As a teacher:
- Read to your kids every night. And spend time with them every day, doing something engaged (like a board game or a walk, not watching television). Don't zone out of parenting when they get less cute (around 10 upwards). Zoning out of parenting early almost guarantees that your kids will never leave home.
-If your teenager is nearly failing class, the solution is NOT to buy them an ipad or laptop for school. You have just bought them the gold standard for disengagement. Where the used to while away the class time throwing spitballs and drawing penises on things, they can now play games/surf net/take selfies/watch pirated movies instead of learning algebra. And cry/scream/swear/chuck an absolute tantrum and disrupt my entire class when they are caught doing it and have to do detention. It's akin to sending your kid to school daily hyped up on energy drinks and sugar (also happens), not helpful to anyone.
- If you are having trouble motivating/controlling your rebellious teenager to behave, how/why on earth do expect me to get better results from them? With 30 kids at once, for an hour a day, while trying to teach them physics? I will try my hardest to help them, but if they are lazy/disrespectful/unmotivated at home, they're likely acting the same way at school. I cannot make your child study, or learn, or pass. If your child tries to learn, really puts in a good effort, I will move mountains to help them pass.
- And finally, thankyou to the 90% of parents who almost always send a properly-dressed, properly-resourced, quasi-motivated, fed, well-rested, cared-for, mostly well-mannered kid to school. Thankyou to the parent who reads/responds to emails, is engaged and supportive of their child's schooling success, who helps out in classes and stresses the importance of education. You people rock.
As another teacher, I agree with all of the above.
Yes, read to your kids every night starting about 5-6 months of age. When they're old enough to read chapter books on their own, don't quit. Instead, read books together and discuss them. Make a point of setting aside screens of all types and spending time with the kids: Reading, playing board games, going out to do things together, or just talking.
One of the most important things you can do is eat dinner together every night. It's a bonding thing and a learning opportunity for kids. One of the saddest things I ever saw in my life: My youngest had a friend over, and at dinner the girl brought a book to the table. I thought it was odd but didn't say anything. As usual, we talked, laughed, told stories about our day ... and sat at the table 30-45 minutes after the food was gone. My daughters' friend said to me later, "I love eating with your family. Y'all are so fun. We all just sit and read our books or play video games."
When your kid is old enough for a cell phone, don't allow unlimited access. Insist that phones (including your own) are left on the kitchen counter after 9:00. I hear my students talking about sleeping with their phones and waking up umpteen times a night to text friends. Obviously this interferes with sleep. Keep an eagle eye on kids and computers (and remember that cell phones ARE computers; it's not just safety -- once innocence is gone, you can't get it back. My students today are eons "more worldly" than their counterparts in the past, and it's not a good thing.
Also be kind to the staff, especially the CNAs. We know you don't want to be here, but we really do try our best to make things better. Being downright cruel won't stop us from giving you the same level of care as any other resident, but it does mean that during the odd quiet moment we won't be stopping into your room to chat or do a quick favor. This goes for family members too - being irate or having unreasonable demands won't make your parent get better care, but it will make the report from RNs be much more colorful than usual.
Here's what my nurse daughter says: Always be nice to the nurses. Oh, they'll give you good treatment regardless, but if you're nice and pleasant ... they'll walk down the hall to get a hot washcloth with which to clean your wound, etc. Yeah, the cold one will clean you just as well, but the warm one will make your experience more pleasant.
I have never heard of the PSAT. I don't think it was offered? I just took the SAT twice, since I sat on the border of when they changed the test, and different schools wanted old vs new scores!
Another note from a teacher: Pay attention to school announcements. Read flyers and newsletters. SOOOO many people don't, and then they aren't aware of this or that thing, or don't realize its importance.
That is weird - my high school required us to take the PSAT twice - we had to take it Sophomore & Junior years. We also were required to take both the SAT and ACT.
You took the PSAT (preparation for the SAT) as a sophomore and the pre-ACT as a junior. Possibly the ASVAB at some point.
Buy a water bottle. Fill the bottle from your tap. Use this as a convenience item to take hiking or on vacation or offer to guests. You haven't listed a single valid reason to purchase bottled water.
I can think of several -- we go through about one case of bottled water every year:
My in-laws frequently make a four-hour drive to visit us. When they leave, we like to have a drink to give them "for the road". I don't want to give them my refillable bottles. They don't bring bottles themselves. I choose to be hospitable and give them a bottled water that they want for the road.
When my kids were little and went on field trips with school they were required to bring along a bagged lunch, and the school always specified that everything had to be thrown away -- that is, no bringing lunchboxes home. Our house rule was that we'd buy Lunchables ONLY for field trips. Could we have been butts about it and sent lunchboxes? Yeah, but the teachers had enough to do on field trips, and I don't want to make waves for something so easy /so infrequent.
Certain machines require bottled water -- irons, for example, and some machine that my brother uses. Could you use tap water? Yeah, but if you end up replacing the machine, it isn't a good deal, especially given that these things only require a few drops of water.
No, it's not. It's not safer. Bottled water is LESS SAFE.
Yeah, it's on the news every couple weeks. Note, however, that this doesn't mean that bottled water is unsafe. It's just NOT superior to plain old near-free tap water.
An artist friend pointed out that my acid-free archival etc. paints could stop having those qualities when mixed with tap water instead of distilled. So I bought a gallon of distilled, but I should figure out doing my own distillation. (Bonus: then I can make rose water for shortbread!)
I don't know anything about acid-free paint, but I do know you're supposed to use water without chlorine to keep shortbread "starter" alive. However, this doesn't mean you need bottled water. It means you need to allow the water to sit for 24 hours; just keep a container in your refrigerator, and the chlorine will evaporate.