Another Tyler Brag

Well, here's a short post for a change. Tyler brought home his 8th consecutive perfect attendance award for last quarter, and also an award for making the Silver Honor Roll.

Rapping at the speed of sound...

Well, due to popular demand I pulled out Tyler's space book and got him to tell me what he had about to say. First of all, there was a typo in my other post... the paragraph should have read, the shuttle can travel much faster than the speed of sound.

So Tyler's question was... if you were the fastest rapper in the galaxy, would the shuttle get to outer space before you could say even one word. So we talked a little bit about the speed of sound... and we determined, that if the shuttle took off at the same time the fastest rapper in the galaxy started to rap, the shuttle would get to space, much faster than the sound of the rapper's voice. At least, I think that's how it works.

It really sucks to have a kid smarter than you are.

After I got home last night and got the girls in bed, I asked Tyler if he'd read any of the 'How to Become an Astronaut 101' articles I'd given him. He said, yeah... I learned a bunch of stuff I didn't know. I showed him some of the stuff I printed about the Civil Air Patrol, and had him read it, then asked him, do you think that's something you'd like to do? And he looked at me and said

I am going to do that.

And we talked a little bit about how it is soooo hard to become an astronaut... so he will have to work very hard starting now, but that even if he can't be an astronaut, there are still lots of other jobs he could do at NASA. He thought I meant he had to get a job now. I told him, no... that means you have to work hard in math and science. And you have to be a certain height (he cried, OH NO, I said don't worry... it's not really tall and he sighed, Oh, good!), so you have to eat right so your body has fuel to grow. You have to make sure you never ever do drugs, because drugs can hurt your body so badly. He brings up that, drugs are medicine.

So then we get into this discussion about legal and illegal drugs. There are prescription drugs that you get from a doctor that you need to help your body, but there are other drugs that are not legal, and it's not legal to take Rx drugs that are not yours. I remind him that some drugs are so dangerous that you can die the very first time you take them. I told him that I'd never done any drugs, so I knew he could NOT do drugs too. I told him how a lot of poeple I went to school with did drugs. He wanted to know how old... I said 13 or 14. He was puzzled, then said... '13 is too young to do drugs. They should have waited until they were 20... or maybe 30.' I was laughing on the inside, but I told him it was not good to do drugs no matter how old you are, but I agreed that 13 was definitely way too young.

Then we started talking about marijuana... I told him that pot kills brain cells so every time you smoke marijuana, you get dumber. I told him that one of the girls I went to school with smoked a lot of marijuana, and she didn't graduate from high school... didn't even finish 9th grade, and now she works at a gas station... and that she wouldn't even be able to get a job mopping floors at NASA.

THEN... Tyler says, 'so that's what nana does, right?' So then I needed to explain the difference in tobacco cigarettes and marijuana cigarettes... one gives you lung cancer, and the other is bad for your lungs, AND it makes you stupid. I am so bad... I'm gonna scar this kid, I swear.

So then he wants to know about other drugs, so I told him about a few, including street names. Now he wants to know what they look like, so he can stay away from them. I told him, we'll work on learning how to recognize them, but you remember these five things and you will be fine...

1. Never EVER take a pill from a friend, even if they say it's just aspirin. Don't swallow any pills unless me, Ro, your dad, or a school nurse gives them to you.
2. Never EVER smoke anything. Smoking is always bad for your lungs, and you never know what other drugs might be crushed inside.
3. Never EVER snort any kind of powder.
4. Never EVER put a needle in your arm.
5. Never EVER breathe in any chemicals.

I think it was the water...

regarding my post on testosterone poisoning... Phoenix had a problem with potable water and there was a ban on using it for consumption all day yesterday and most of today... and I think that might have been the problem. I wonder if he got some bad water before we heard about it. They cleared the water for drinking today. Tonight, Ro kept the kids while I went to Site Council and PTSO meetings at the school for two hours. While I was gone, he fed the kids the burgers I brought, made himself something to eat, cleaned up after the kids, took the diapers I bought and put them all in the basket where I keep the diapers, and gave the kids a snack. He left the house not too long after I got home, but before he went he put his leftover food in the fridge and told me to leave the pan; he'd take care of it.

Careers in Space...

Well, the goal of being an astronaut is kinda like wanting to be a professional basketball player... The number of people who make it that far is very very small. I had read, on one of my 2E lists, where one parent told another that if her son really wanted to work for NASA, not to ever give him meds for ADHD, because that would disqualify him from entry into the program. I've heard the same thing about military service. If I hadn't read that, I probably would have thought Wow, Tyler... that's a great goal. Good for you. And left it at that. So when I started looking at the requirements to see what it said about ADHD and if what I'd heard was fact or rumor, I saw the flight hours required to be considered for the space program. It's a lot and would be very difficult to accomplish as a civilian... the easiest way to get the hours is to be either a commercial or military pilot. Now, Tyler has been interested in space for a while, and his 2nd grade teacher made a comment last year to tell me to make sure he takes AP math classes and that she thinks he should work in the space program, perhaps as an engineer. So I'd already looked into the fact that the high school that is our 'home' school has an aviation and aerospace magnate. I contacted them yesterday and asked them to send me a brochure.

So, if you don't already think I've gone over the top, you will now that I tell you that I've not only emailed the high school, I've also emailed NASA, and the US Coast Guard. I've discovered that Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has a campus in Prescott AZ, and that UofA is one of the consortium schools NASA gives grants to. Scouting is strongly recommended, but I just don't think I can do boy scouts so I've discovered that the Civil Air Patrol (which is thru the air force) has a cadet program that focuses on and volunteer work and aerospace education opportunities, and Tyler can join that at 12. I've probably printed a ream of paper for him to start reading... not all at once of course, but bit by bit, so that he can have an idea of the work involved if he really wants to do this.

The way I figure it, there is NOTHING that he would do to try and get into the space program that would be a waste of his time or that wouldn't be of use to him whatever his career choice. My plan is to encourage him to do all the things he would need to do, because frankly, you really have to start preparing for a career in space in grade school, starting the with basics of science and math. If worse comes to worse, he just finds a job working for NASA but isn't in the space program, that's still fantastic and that will still make him very happy. In the meantime, I can hold onto the hope that he'll be busy enough preparing for this career that he'll stay out of a lot of the trouble that appeals to boys... especially ADHD boys.

Testosterone Poisoning...

Roro had testosterone poisoning last night. It involved a video game. 8 hours worth. It just made for a very long, angry night. He's been in a funk ever since he came back from England, which is a pretty normal 'cycle' for him... but it's not what I want to be dealing with right now.

Anyway, he started playing this game last night at about 5PM. I asked him probably half a dozen times to get Daija out of my way while I made dinner. And he has this appt with immigration tomorrow. We talked while he was in England about this letter I was going to help him with. Well, either he wasn't home or neither he nor I would think of it when he was. We were supposed to get it out of the way last night. So in about hour three of the video game, I go in and say, 'I have this list of 8 things that need to be done. If you want my help with this letter, tell me what you can take care of.' Without missing a keystroke, he says, 'Don’t worry about the letter' and continues to play the game. I get the kids in bed, and go into the room to get my shoes (I need dryer sheets) and he says to me, 'if you're going to the store, go now'. I lost my patience then and asked him if he minded if I didn't go barefoot. Then while I'm at Safeway, he calls me and asks me to get honey. I told him I wouldn't buy honey to save him from starving and hung up. And can you believe when I got home he was upset that I hung up on him? He never said anything about the honey I didn't buy. Oh, and btw, he didn't turn off that game until 1AM… and I know this because he was playing it right next to me in the bed. Well, he was lying in the bedroom watching cartoons with Daija when I got home... that's where he was at 5 when he started playing, that's where he STILL was at 10 when I crawled in bed. Couldn’t move and miss a keystroke. It actually didn't keep me awake; I just woke up when he started his usual 'I can't get comfortable' side-to-side toss. The fact that 5PM to 1AM is 8 hours pissed me off.

Tonight, he offered to buy pizza (which I took him up on when I discovered my hamburger was still frozen) and although he was glued to a basketball game, he did keep Daija out of the way... even changed her diaper without prompting. However, at about 7 he fell asleep, which he is still doing now.

Can You Hear a Shout in Space?

Tyler was reading this book last week called 'Can You Hear a Shout in Space' and there was this section that talked about the speed of sound... and Tyler got this intense look on his face, and said 'So if you were the FASTEST rapper on the planet...' and then the poor kid saw me biting my lip to keep a straight face and said 'never mind...' I really wish I knew what he had been about to say. A night or two later he was reading this part about astronauts and it was talking about who can become and astronaut. I walked into his room to check on him, and he told me that his new motto is' Less playing, more learning', and went back to that page and had me read it. I didn't have the heart to tell him that he can probably work for NASA if he works hard enough, but his condition and meds will probably make being an astronaut unlikely.

I consider ADHD a neurological disorder, but a lot of people lump it with depression, bipolar, and other mood disorders... not sure what NASA does. And depending on how you read the requirements, ADHD could easily fall into a category that could be excluded... for example, while it doesn't spell out ADHD, the section on psychosis does say...

(i) The individual has manifested delusions, hallucinations, grossly bizarre or
disorganized behavior, or other commonly accepted symptoms of this condition; or
(ii) The individual may reasonably be expected to manifest delusions,
hallucinations, grossly bizarre or disorganized behavior, or other commonly
accepted symptoms of this condition.

and under the neurological portion, it says:

(b) No other seizure disorder, disturbance of consciousness, or neurological
condition that the Federal Air Surgeon, based on the case history and
appropriate, qualified medical judgment relating to the condition involved,
finds--
(1) Makes the person unable to safely perform the duties or exercise
the privileges of the airman certificate applied for or held; or
(2) May reasonably be expected, for the maximum duration of the airman medical
certificate applied for or held, to make the person unable to perform those
duties or exercise those privileges.

Someone who is unable to focus their attention or control their impulses can pose a safety risk to others, so even though this really sucks for my kid, I can see the logic behind it. I.E., research has shown that people with ADHD have more car accidents; There are quite a few parents on my 2E list who have teenagers who are a risk to themselves and other behind the wheel of a car, or who were able to get through school w/o meds but need them to drive safely. I'm just not sure if someone taking meds to control it are OK... or if the drugs taken are a problem as well. And I'm not sure how far back this stuff is looked at... but the impression I got is, it counts. I'm just having a hard time confirming anything that spells out what ADHD is considered in the framework of their requirements. I imagine I'm just going to have to email NASA to find out.