We recently found ourselves in the oh so nifty position of helping #2 make what will no doubt be a life altering decision. A decision that weighed quite heavily in the air for the two weeks they gave him to make this decision.
I've always been very thankful that the next school my children would attend, after the early and middle years school, which by the way, someone thought would be a good idea to change the names from "elementary" and "junior high" to the aforementioned descriptors, only to change them back to ... well, you get my point. For crying out loud, it's always been elementary and it's always been junior high and it's always been high school. We, the parents who are in and around my age, have always called them that. And then some wise ass comes along and thinks "early years" and "middle years" is the way to go.... I'm guessing someone got their brains and or their balls back and put the kibosh on that crap. Because now we're back to elementary and junior high.
Anyway, off track here. I'm glad that they have the opportunity to attend a school where they can learn more than just academics. They can test the waters and enter the world of various trades or head off to get the education they'll need in order to get them into University. The choices are endless. #1 has pursued his desire to be a mechanic. And as such, will graduate this year with the foundation to head off in that direction. And while I'm glad he's been given the knowledge to do this, I'm more blown away by the fact that he's graduating... And on time yet!! Shit, hope I didn't just curse it. After all, there's still a little under 3 months to go. But I shall keep the faith.
So #2 is there next year. At the high school. And, as I knew with #1, I know with #2. He's a hands on kinda guy and at this point in his life will not tolerate the pen to paper gig that he'd need to do in order to head off to University. So... he was faced with the decision of just what he thought he should take. Me, I know that computers and programming is what he should do. The kid is a frickin' genius when it comes to that kind of stuff. Or theatrics. I still, to this day, curse myself for not getting him involved with an acting group. But hey, there's still time if I can get it together. Anyway... I didn't interfere. I let him peruse the booklet and try and figure out by the words on the paper just what it was that he thought he might want to do. I'd occasionally toss in "so, getting any closer to figuring it out?" and he'd ignore me. So I stood back.
And then, we're sitting here one night and he says "Mom, I've decided what I want to take next year." Heaving a huge sigh of relief, because quite frankly, I was getting the feeling he was wanting to spend another year in grade nine while he made up his mind, I cautiously said, "You have? That's great!" And with my new found art of knowing where to place the pregnant pauses, I waited. I didn't want to push the envelope and force what might just be what I didn't want to hear out of him.
"I'm gonna take computers. But not the whole computer curriculum."
This didn't really make sense to me but I waited. For what seemed like an eternity. And then I asked, "Okay, so what else has peaked your interest?"
"Well, you see. I figure that with taking the two pre-requisite computer courses for grade ten I'll know if that's what I really want to do. But I still need to take 3 more courses in order to stay on track so I thought I'd take Culinary Arts too."
"Oh really? And where did this idea come from?" Go ahead, answer me this.... What the hell else was I suppose to say?
"I'm liking the home economics course this year. Cooking is fun. And it's not really that hard. And there's not a lot of writing involved. It'll give me the credits I need for the year and by the end I'll know."
So... I figure I've either got the next Bill Gates or Wolfgang Puck in the making here.
Only time will tell.
Ciao!
