Finance/Children

Hey Taylor Spending tons more time with my kids while we stay away from the crowds and summer Taylor camps. I’m Kovar loving every second of it but running out of ideas for entertainment and don’t want to watch TV all day. Got any tips for an overwhelmed father of two? Justin

Hey Justin - Shout out to all the moms and full-time parents, because entertaining your kids all day, every day is no easy task. We’ve picked up a trick or two over the years to make sure everyone stays happy when leaving the house isn’t an option.

Dig into the backs of the cabinets. If your kids are young enough, the sight of a new toy or Tupperware container might be enough. Head to the garage, the pantry, or the basement and find the funkiest old container or contraption you can. I once took the wheels off an old, broken stroller and taped a few of them together, which led to hours of rolling entertainment and didn’t cost me a dime. If you can get just a little bit creative, you might surprise yourself and make something out of nothing.

Play creative games. For kids a little older, you might be able to get away with having them do the thinking. Get a piece of cardboard and some pens and have them invent a board game, or turn the living room into a jungle with different habitats identified for the different types of animals. If you have a sporty little child who misses organized baseball or soccer, see if they’ll come up with their own team name and design a uniform. You can still play to a kid’s interests while they aren’t able to engage in the usual activities. Collaborate with your children on creative ideas and see what you can come up with.

Get productive. I know this is a particularly hard time for teenagers, who don’t want to play games and you don’t want to see them glued to a phone all day. It’s no easy feat, but challenging them to create a video, design an app, build a website, or write a short story could actually be the push they need to get invested in a hobby. While teens might not love school, a lot of them appreciate the reward of working to get better at something, especially if it’s something they can share with friends online.

These are hard times for everyone and doubly hard for a lot of parents. I appreciate you making the extra effort and look forward to hearing about how it all goes!

Legal Disclaimer: Information presented is for educational purposes only and is not an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Be sure to first consult with a qualified financial adviser and/or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed herein. To submit a question to be answered in this column, please send it via email to Question@GoFarWithKovar.com or via USPS to Taylor Kovar, 415 S 1st St, Suite 300, Lufkin, TX 75901.

Howe ISD safe return

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Regardless of the selected instructional delivery model, per Texas Education Code (TEC), Section 25.092, students must attend 90% of the days a course is offered to be awarded credit for the course and/or to be promoted to the next grade level.

On-campus learning will be available for all students from prekindergarten through grade 12. Expectations for coursework and guidelines for grading for On-Campus Learning and Remote Learning will be the same. In the event that a student participating in On-Campus Learning should possess COVID-19 symptoms, contract COVID-19, or experience close contact with a lab-confirmed COVID -19 case, the student must switch to Remote Learning.

Remote learning is available for students in prekindergarten through grade 12. Parents of students who select Remote learning are required to attend an HISD Remote Learning Orientation. This orientation will be provided virtually and will be available on the Howe ISD website on or before July 30. Daily attendance will be taken. Daily student participation in the learning activities in every class will be required. Students who select Remote Learning will not be eligible for participation in extracurricular activities.

Based on the information provided in the district’s plan, parents will need to complete a survey to inform Howe ISD of their intent to utilize OnCampus or Remote Learning for their student(s) for the 2020-21 school year.

“We request that parents complete the survey as soon as possible so that the district can determine staffing patterns. At the latest, the survey should be completed by July 29,” the plan stated.

Parents electing Remote Learning will also need to complete an application so that the ISD can collect additional information. This application will be posted on the Howe ISD I recently received a paean to my generation – the so-called “boomers” – that has been circulating on John the Internet for Rosemond some time now. It recalls and celebrates the freedom we enjoyed as children and the personal responsibility our parents enforced upon us –concerning the latter, much to our frequent chagrin.

Peanut butter was a dietary staple, we wore nothing more protective than baseball caps when we rode our bicycles, which we often rode miles from home, our social media consisted of face-to-face conversations, we learned respect for others via party lines (look it up), we climbed and almost to the kid fell out of trees, and so on. The point being that my and my parents’ generations “produced some of the best risk-takers, problem-solvers, and inventors ever.”

As I engaged in wistful thinking, it occurred to me that we saw no therapists, took no brain- and behavior-altering drugs, received no bogus psychological diagnoses, and weren’t sent off to rehab facilities (other than the occasional wayward kid who spent time in reform school), and yet our mental health was ten times better than that of today’s kids.

One of the reminiscences that carried great meaning for me was “The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of…They actually sided with the law!” I smiled from ear to ear.

I was seventeen when I was arrested for disturbing the public peace. Hey! I was simply celebrating my graduation from high school! Give a guy a break! Actually, I was one of seven fellow grads who were hauled off to the local police station where we were fingerprinted, mug shot, and perp walked back to cells where we awaited our bailbondsmen, aka, our parents.

I watched from behind bars as one fellow rowdy after another was released into custody. When I finally got up the courage to ask the jailer when my parents were coming, he said, “They’re leaving you here.” What???? Yes, they left me in jail for two of the longest days of my life. On Saturday morning they showed up and informed me that freedom was a relative thing: to wit, I was grounded for the remainder of the summer. What could have been the most glorious of summers turned into two months of yard work, painting the entire house, and explaining my incarceration to my few lawabiding buddies.

Charges were eventually dropped but I never again saw my accomplices. I don’t have any idea what became of them, but my life is better because I experienced, up close and personal and before I could ramp up my rebellion any further, what generally happens to people who believe they are above the law.

I think, ruefully, of today’s parents, many of whom seem to think that good parenting consists largely of protecting one’s children from the vagaries of personal responsibility; and I ask myself if we will ever recover from their good intentions.

Family psychologist John Rosemond: johnrosemond.com, p arentguru.com.

John Rosemond has worked with families, children, and parents since 1971 in the field of family psychology. In 1971, John earned his masters in psychology from Western Illinois University and was elected to the Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society.

website (www.howeisd.net) on or before July 29.

The first two weeks of school will be considered a grace period for evaluating the chosen model of instruction for parents. If parents determine that the selected model is not appropriate for their child, they may request a change up until Sept. 4. After the initial grace period, students may not change instructional delivery models during a 6-week grading period. If a student wishes to change models, they must notify the campus principal at least one week prior to the start of the new 6-week grading period. An application for Remote Learning must also be completed if moving from the On-Campus to Remote model. Exception - as noted above, a student may move from On-Campus Instruction to Remote Instruction should COVID-19 symptoms or exposure dictate a change in the instructional delivery method during a grading period.