I think the FAA is overreacting

Yes, the dad let the kid into the tower where technically he shouldn’t have been. But the infraction is minor. The dad told the kid what to say, the kid said it exactly and the dad went back to work. I don’t see how this was a problem.

As a kid I used to love going to work with my Dad. First because they had a breakfast cart that came around each morning with donuts, but second because I got to see some cool stuff. His work was the first time I saw Green-bar paper and a computer. (Think late 70’s here people!). At the time I thought it was cool, but I had no idea what it would be used for some day. Or that I would become a Computer Scientist in school. I also loved going to Tarrytown, which was where the research arm of General Foods was located. I got to try Pudding Pops before they were released and a couple of other cool things. (I later got a Summer intern job in Tarrytown, which was cool, except for trying the fat-substitutes that Entenmann’s was testing those days …)

I also remember one day, probably in 7th or 8th grade where I signed up for the ‘mayor for a day’ program through my Boy Scout troop. While I didn’t get to be the Mayor of Danbury (Jim Dyer was in those days, so no comments about me approving the Mall on swamp land), I did get to shadow the guy who ran the Danbury airport. I remember seeing the tower, where the planes were stored, looking at the lights on the runway, watching one of them get replaced. It was a really cool way to miss a day of school.

Honestly, when I heard about the JFK kid, I was jealous. I didn’t get to direct any planes when I was ‘in charge’ but I can only imagine how cool that would have been.

So as others have suggested, discipline the Dad and Supervisor, but don’t fire him. Bad enough the kid thinks he got his Dad in trouble, but can you image how he’ll feel if he gets fired?

What my kids what me to read

As a parent I find myself looking for books that my kids would enjoy reading, even if it isn’t something ‘typical’ for their age or interests. While my oldest has a vampire fixation right now (and I’m eagerly awaiting her to change!), my middle child is pretty open to reading anything. She is also not above recommending to ME what to read.

This is a fun change from when I read what they were reading to help them understand their assignments. I remember reading Tale of Despereaux in one night because my oldest didn’t understand what happened in the dungeon. It is also different from when they read the books that we had to in Elementary and High School (The Outsiders, To Kill a Mockingbird etc.) and I reread them because I remember how good they were. (Everyone still remembers what happens to Johnny right?)

So her recommendation for this week: Deep, Dark and Dangerous. A Ghost story for middle schoolers, she was totally engrossed in it a couple of weeks ago. She told me bits and pieces about it, so when she finished it the other day she started nagging me to read it. So I did. Pretty good story, kind of obvious once you get about 1/3 of the way in if you have experience with other mysteries or ghost stories, but I don’t think a 12 year old would have figured it out as soon as I did. That said, it does have a couple of twists at the end that I didn’t see coming, but that weren’t totally out in left field.

Since turnabout is fair play, her next ‘recommendation’ is a book I got her for Christmas that she originally didn’t want to read. But once she read a couple of chapters she was all over it! The book is Flight of the Phoenix, the first book in the Beastologist series. I’ll start that next week.

Now I need to find something for the Freshman that doesn’t involve vampires …