Be a Sport Tate! NOW!

Tate starts pre-school at his little daycare on the 27th.  That in and of itself warrants a post because seriously where has the time gone?

But today I sit here discombobulated about my son's education FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE.  Last night I tossed and turned with worry and concern about how my choices for my child who has lived on this earth for 36 months and 27 days will affect the rest of his life possibly.

And I don't know if it's like this everywhere or just in big cities like Houston, but I don't really care what it's like anywhere else because this is where we are at this moment in our lives.

A dear friend posted on FB asking about the high school her son will be attending in 5 years (he's 9 right now) and how a 3.0 GPA at the anticipated high school is the bottom of the barrel.    In addition, many children, male and female, are not able to play on their high school team because the caliber of the players is so high, that even good players cannot make the cut.

Our two biggest state universities used to guarantee admission to the top 10% of high school graduates and apparently now have changed that number to the top 8%.

Quote "If you don't plan early for sports, you have NO chance."  We're not talking the pros here folks...we're talking high school.  High school freshmen.

It's recommended apparently to get these kids as young as 3 focused on a sport now, vet them out, find out their strengths and ram it down their throats.

And academics...well if your 3 year old doesn't know his alphabet, can't recognize the letters or tell you what letter a word he's never heard of starts with, how to spell his name and count to 20 you might as well put your college fund towards your retirement fun.

Earlier this year I wrestled with whether to move Tate out of his current daycare/school.  I would have been moving him to a private pre-school.  His 'late' birthday really made the decision for me.  Most private pre-schools here require the kids be 3 by July 15.  So he missed the cut-off by 8 days.   And who knows what I'll do next year, because I do not think my 4 year old deserves to be in a class with pre-schoolers who turned 3 on July 14th.  And yes, yes someone's kid has to be the cut-off.  But it ain't gonna be mine if I can help it.

So he stays where he is.  I don't know at this point if this is a good or bad thing academically for him.  Socially, he'll do great.  He has made some great friends (I know, I know he's 3, but he really has an affinity for a few of these kiddos and it's sweet) and he's doing exceptionally well there in my humble opinion.  What he has learned in the past year astounds me.  Case in point (yes to brag!)...tonight he found my iPhone which I keep password locked.  The past 3 mornings he's awakened before 6am, so I blearily handed him the phone and called out the numbers for him to unlock the phone.  Three times.  So, he had the phone in hand tonight;  I hear him calling out numbers...the 4 numbers of the code as he's punching in the phone to unlock it.  "Look Mommy!  I did it!"  

What kind of memory is that?  

Anyway, I believe he's academically doing just fine.

And again!  Who wants to worry if their 3 year old is doing fine academically?!?!   I cannot believe I just wrote that.

So now I'm left to stress about when to move him to private school if I decide to stay in the city.  Should I move to the suburbs and have a heinous commute if I continue where I work now? How can I  not continue to work where I am?  Where do I move in the city to find a decent public school if I don't want to pony up upwards of $15,000/year for elementary school (and then have to pay for before and after school care)?  Then there's the matter of diversity in the private schools here in town?  Ummm there is none.  How do I send my son of an SMC with a mom who is a black American and whose father/donor is white, German and gay to a non-diverse school?  And I want him in a school with a religious slant, so even less likely in this uber-conservative area to be diverse and progressive.  And the sense of entitlement I see from these kids in my practice (which would be where the school Tate would attend would likely be) is overwhelming and the snobbiness of their parents really unnerves me.  I shudder to think of my sweet boy being surrounded by such people.  

I just do not know what to do.

And time is running out.

My mind is racing right now.  And that's not good as I start an extremely long 5 day work week, the week before school starts.  I anticipate being stressed, over-booked and exhausted.  So I need to put this on the back burner for now, get some well needed rest and enjoy my sweet 3 year old in the morning.