IQ 180

When did kids stop being kids? Kids today with their after school tutoring, piano, violin, soccer, etc. I need to call in advance to take my 10 year old cousin out to the movies. During the week she has after school tutoring plus her piano practice. During the weekend she has actual piano class with the occasional competition. I need to schedule something at least a week in advance. The poor kid is so busy she still hasn’t watched the “Spiderman 2” DVD she asked for Christmas.

My co-worker asked me to look at the website of a learning center his friend owns. I think it is in hopes to recruit me as an instructor. As I was browsing the courses and schedules I noticed that some classes are on weekends. Saturdays from 11:00 am to 1:30 pm. This is a travesty. These are peak hours for playing or winding down after watching Saturday morning cartoons (followed by some “Soul Train” which signaled the end of the cartoons for the day). Not to learn pre-Algebra. I spent a good 2 years of my Saturdays at an art class painting landscapes and eating French fries during break time.

This just means I’m getting old. I remember my older cousins being appalled at the fact that I took a SAT prep class in high school. But now, kids are taking these prep classes in 1st grade. What’s happening here? By the way, do these parents know some of these classes are being taught by embezzling vote rigging ex-high school class presidents?

Don’t these kids get tired? I was spoiled and parents never pushed me. I never learned piano (after much opposition coupled with crying and pleading). Academics were enforced, but most of it was of my own will. Maybe if my parents were strict I’d be a successful adult? But then I wouldn’t know the “Tiny Toons” theme song, lines from “Saved by the Bell,” or that Jessica and Elizabeth are from the Sweet Valley High series of books.

Is my life in a cubicle, shrouded in a cable-knit sweater/business casual existence because I didn’t go to Kumon? I guess I’ll never know. But, if you want to know who played the kid the 1979 film “The Champ,” I’m your girl.