The Reluctant Snow-Day Observer

This is the snowiest, coldest winter of my entire life, at least as far as I can remember, and the children are okay with that.  Our town and state are reluctant to plow but rather eager to cancel school - which is good, since they don't do a great job of plowing.  Plus we're in Nordicland, so to speak, and winter is really winter up here.  

But sometimes we get a "split verdict" on school cancellation.  Daniel attends a charter school a few towns south of us, and the school pegs its cancellation policy to that of the public school system in the same town. Their southerliness and easterliness helps to ensure that they won't get the snow as bad as we do, and this past Friday was one of those days. On Thursday, both towns cancelled school, and it was a General Holiday for our kids.  On Friday, our town cancelled but the town where Daniel's school is located didn't, so technically he had snow.  But Amy's flower-child quirks sometimes come to the rescue.

I'm not very strict in any area where I can easily get emotionally conflicted, but as far as school goes, I have a simple algorithm that keeps my sentimentality from running completely amock.  My system is, if school is open and you're not sick - as in having a fever and/or throwing up - then you go to school.  Amy is much stricter about many things, but she's far more "right-brained" in this matter. And when she realized that two out of three children had the day off and Daniel was Odd Man Out, she suddenly softened up:

"Why don't you ask Daniel if he wants to go to school."

I don't think I've ever asked a child that question before....But Amy had some nuance to her approach.  Friday was Valentine's Day, and Daniel had been looking forward to it - to the party and the exchange of Valentines.  So he might want to go to school after all, I was told.

So I posed the question to Daniel, and was impressed that he didn't immediately deliver a verdict.  In fact, he had an important question of his own, to help clarify his own priorities:

"Will I still get valentines?"

Yes, Daniel, you will, but it won't be as nice or as much fun if you miss the actual day.

Young Daniel made a decision; he preferred to stay home for the day.

I delivered the shocking verdict to Amy, who pointed out to me that it's no fun to have to go to school when your sister and brother get to stay home.

So it would seem that Daniel heroically chose family over fun.  I can't explain it any other way.  Of course, there is a popular bumper sticker that reads "A bad day fishing is better than a good day at work."  I find it hard to believe that Daniel would prefer staying home than going to school per se.  My best guess is that he didn't want his brother and sister to get bored, at home alone. And I'm sure they were never board.

(February 13, 2014)