My Daughter's School Adventures (followed by a rant!)

Rosalia: taken at the Cohen Millinery Shop at Greenfield Village
July 2009.
She loves to try on hats!

This morning I brought my (nearly) 9 year old daughter to her elementary school, as I normally do, placing her in line with her other classmates. Earlier, my daughter had informed me that they were having their annual book fair this week, which I always love, no matter what age group...I enjoy buying books for my kids as much as I love buying them for myself. Anyhow, I went into the building and stepped into the library, where the fair is held, and began to check out the selection: there were books about Hannah Montana, iCarly, Jonas Brothers, the obligatory selection of Obama books, joke books, riddle books, mystery and ghost stories, young and pre-teen stories, nearly anything an elementary aged child would want.
Except my daughter.
She wanted history books.
And they had nothing for her.
I know I can find anything she would want on Amazon.com or maybe at the local store, but it's just not the same for her. She wanted to spend her own money and buy a book from her school.
But, since she did not see anything "from the Civil War era or from the time of the Revolutionary War" she chose to hold on to her cash.
She came home so disappointed.
That's when I decided to see for myself what they had. Yup - she was right...nothing history at all. I did, however, find a version of "A Christmas Carol" suitable for one her age and bought that instead.
I brought it home and she was ecstatic! She must've over-looked the book while shopping. It'll be a good introduction for her and will allow her to actually read the "Carol" instead of watching the five or six different versions we own as we normally do multiple times a season. Within a couple years I'll pull out Dickens' own version for her to read - at the rate she's going, she'll be ready to read the original within two years!
It's a shame, however, that out of the literally hundreds of titles for sale that were spread out over the library tables and shelves, she couldn't find one rooted in history to spend her money on. When I was her age and my interest in history began to grow, I was lucky enough to buy many books of this nature - still have a few of them - and read and re-read them constantly. So, I guess I'll have to pull my old books off the shelf and let her enjoy them as I did.
Rosalia, who, by the way, is in the 3rd grade, will be portraying Susannah Winslow in her class project for Thanksgiving this year. And she is so excited about it! The kids dress up in their best make-shift pilgrim outfits (another 3rd grade class portray the Indians) and they become, for a whole week, their chosen person, with the culmination being a presentation for the parents on the day before Thanksgiving. Of course, Rosalia came to me to help her with her research of Mrs. Winslow, so I pulled out a few books I have on the pilgrims so she could write down whatever information she felt was important. We're also going to watch the docu-drama called "Desperate Crossing," a superb DVD about the pilgrims - the best I have seen so far. It will give her more of a feel for what those travelers went through before, during, and after their journey on the Mayflower.
I had to laugh when I found out, during a fun-facts of history segment of class, that Rosalia was the only child in her class that knew what a chamber pot was and exclaimed quite proudly that "I have one, and I use it, too!" She also was the only child to know what hard tack was and volunteered my wife to make a batch for the class. The kids look to my daughter for answers when it comes to history - at the ripe old age of 8! She loves it!
Rosalia is not shy and quite often will wear her Civil War era dress to school, much to the delight of the other little girls. And when she does, she attempts (successfully, I might add) the proper etiquette of the time. Even though so many of her young friends try to dress like the latest popular TV star, they are just as thrilled to come over to our house and try on Rosalia's 150 year old fashions. And, yes, she gives them etiquette lessons, especially during her tea parties.
I really think that's pretty cool and I believe that many of the kids would rather willingly dress in period clothing over some of the new fashions being pushed.
After reading what a blogger friend of mine recently wrote (....As becometh women professing Godliness.) it got me to thinking about my little girl and her place in today's society. It's extremely difficult to raise a child in such a world that we live in. We all want the best for our children, and we all (hopefully) do our best to raise our children in the best way we can. But, when one lives in a society where pretty much anything goes, it can get pretty tough to be a parent and teach right from wrong, especially when society (read: the mainstream media) tries its best to thrust its own morals and values upon our little ones. It's a challenge, believe me. But, we stick by our morals and our values, and it's worked...with my two oldest, and it seems to be working for my two youngest.
I just hope and pray that it continues to work...as long as we keep her focused, it should.
But, it sure isn't easy..................................

The following photos were taken when Rosalia was just three years old. She was a ham and enjoyed making goofy faces for the camera.
I love these pics! They really have nothing to do with this particular entry - - it's just that I smile every time I see them.




(By the way, you might enjoy reading one of my early postings about Rosalia entitled My Daughter).