It's That Stupid Time Of Year

 Here we go again treating our children like they were clones of Einstein; giving them scads of cash and in some cases new cars for doing virtually nothing. What I'm saying is it's high school graduation time and parents go all gaga because their child did something millions upon millions have done before. In other words, these kiddies graduated from high school. Big whoop!

A couple years ago I broached this subject, kids completing grade 12, and wondered why parents shower them with gifts and accolades as though they had discovered and translated the Rosetta Stone.

We reside in Dublin, Ohio. It's a rather upscale community on the north side of Columbus. While riding around in my vehicle I'll notice those ever present front yard signs congratulating their children. They'll read: 'Proud Parents Of A Dublin Coffman Graduate'. But, then there will be another sign and this one reads: 'My Child Will Attend Princeton' or Harvard or some other snooty college and I'll think---these parents are congratulating themselves on the fact they're going to spend $100K a year to send their kids to a school that will indoctrinate them into a bastion of higher learning so they can become intellectual communists. What a waste. What I'm waiting to see is a yard sign reading: 'Proud Parent Of A Junior College Student'. If I ever saw one of these I'd go up to the front door and shake Mom and Dad's hand and give them a gift certificate to the Golden Corral.

I have to admit I'm one of those grandparents who will fall in line and come up with a thousand congratulations to our granddaughter who is about to graduate from Olathe North High School in Kansas. The child has had a stellar  high school career and deservedly received massive academic scholarships to Drake University in Des Moines Iowa. Guess what? With all the cash she's receiving to attend this school she'll still be in a financial hole for years to come. She'd be financially better off to go to plumber's school. Okay, maybe not a plumbing institution but an electrical school sounds better.

Yes, I'll be driving to Olathe next week to partake in the festivities of her graduation all the while sitting in an auditorium wondering when the commencement speaker will STFU so I can go home and hit the hay. The things we grandparents do for our progeny is unimaginable but, then again, I recall having to sit through their soccer matches when they were five years old pretending I enjoyed every lousy minute of the sheer boredom of it all.

But, I'll put a smile on my face at her party and I'll get a positive response from her especially after she opens her gift card. It's what grandparents are expected to do--------Dammit!