One great thing about being an, ahem, Morning Assignment Dad, is that I don’t even have to remember that in New York State, tomorrow (Sep. 21) is Take Your Child to School Day. Because around my house, every day is Take Your Child to School Day.
This NY State initiative should not be confused with the NIH’s Take Your Child to Work Day (which was in April of this year) or even with last week’s Talk Like a Pirate Day.
Here’s a .pdf document and an audio notice about the day (only a government bureaucracy would think to disseminate perfectly simple information through .pdf and .mp3).
I’ve got a few issues with any government plan to tell us how to parent, I guess. I’m not saying this is like Christine O’Donnell telling us not to pleasure ourselves, but it does seem like a strange intiative for government to take on. I hope all fathers consider taking their kids to school. I suspect that those who don’t aren’t going to be swayed by a press release from Albany.
Perhaps the target audience, legitimately, is the employer. There are plenty of bastard shopkeeps and miserly CEOs who wouldn’t give their employees a few hours off for something like this; maybe some declaration from the capitol, toothless in every other way, might help them change their ways. If not, we should declare a Stop Being an Asshole Employer Day as soon as possible.
One other weirdness: this day is sponsored by both the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) and the New York State Office of Temporary & Disability Assistance (OTDA). I get the OCFS. But what in the world does this have to do with Disability Assistance? Is taking your kid to school only something you should do if you’ve wrenched your back at a union job and are taking horse-sized dose of Percocet every few hours? Is involvement with your kid some other kind of disability?
I’m confused. But no matter, I will be an unwitting celebrant tomorrow, at 8:10am, taking my daughter to school. Huzzah for me.
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