Playing Hooky

Since I've become a stay-at-home mom, I've had the opportunity to be out and about in the middle of the day. And I've noticed some pretty alarming trends among the youngest in our society. They're not at school. 

There isn't a day when I go to Target or the grocery store or just on walk when I don't see obvious school age kids just hanging out. Sometimes they're with their parents and sometimes not. I mentioned this to my friend Beth the other day and she, always the optimist, suggested that perhaps these kids were visiting from far away because of a family emergency. Probably not. And then there's the old "maybe they're home schooled" standby excuse. Except everyone knows you can spot a home schooler at 100 yards and most of these kids are definitely NOT home schoolers. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, take a little visit over to my friend Jeff's blog. He's on my blog list.)

So this brings me to the only obvious scenario: these kids are skipping school. And most likely, their parents are letting them. This is a travesty! All the crap society gives the school system about how we teachers are failing our students and how our kids can't pass required tests, and this is what we have to work with. Miniature school ditchers. It just makes me sick. So next time you see one of these delinquents, do me a favor and yell at them to get back to school.