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By Sally Torbey
About this blog: About this blog: I have enjoyed parenting five children in Palo Alto for the past two decades and have opinions about everything to do with parenting kids (and dogs). The goal of my blog is to share the good times and discuss the ...
(More)About this blog: About this blog: I have enjoyed parenting five children in Palo Alto for the past two decades and have opinions about everything to do with parenting kids (and dogs). The goal of my blog is to share the good times and discuss the challenges of having a satisfying family life in a community where parents set a high bar for themselves, their children, and the schools and organizations that educate and socialize them. I grew up in the Midwest, attended a small liberal arts college on the East Coast and graduated from medical school in Chicago. I left a pediatric residency to care for our then infant son and spent the next dozen years contentedly gestating and lactating while having four more children. My husband grew up in the Middle East, came to the US for graduate school and works in high tech. Our eldest son graduated from a UC, and after working in the Middle East for a few years, now attends law school in NYC. Our eldest daughter graduated from a Midwestern Big Ten University and is a journalist in Texas. Our middle child studies engineering at a UC. The youngest two girls are in middle and high school in PAUSD. We are celebrating 20 years as PAUSD parents! I volunteer in the public schools, our church, and scouting.
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In awe in Yosemite
Uploaded: Nov 19, 2015
Last week I accompanied a group of Paly students to Yosemite National Park. Seventy five freshmen, all students in Paly’s TEAM (Together Everybody Achieves More) program, spent a week at Yosemite with the Nature Bridge program. In groups of 12-15 students, which included a 12th grade student leader, and teacher and/or parent chaperone, we were guided about the park by environmental educators who taught us everything you’d ever want to know about Yosemite, including the park’s geological history, the life of Native Americans that inhabited the valley, how the current drought affects the park, and how the land came to be a national park. We also attended lectures on climate change and a talk about the cosmos.
In addition to the academic pursuits, the groups played trust games and embarked on group challenges, such as leading one another through a pitch-black cave. Our group participated in a service project of clearing brush, wielding saws and massive clippers, while learning about controlled burns. The kids loved scrambling up paths of boulders, building snow men and molding the perfect snowball, but the highlight of the week was a hike up 700 icy steps to a waterfall, each student taking turns being the leader, setting the pace and looking after the group.
Spending a week outdoors in such majestic beauty and in the company of energetic, bright teen-agers is profound. Most of the kids in my group did not know each other well on day #1, but by day #6 had become a cohesive unit that celebrated the accomplishment of finally being one of the first groups ready for the 7am breakfast roll call. We relished the shorter lines and choice of seats in the cafeteria that morning!
We marveled as the brilliant fall colors transformed to branches and leaves coated in white glistening snow after the season’s first snow fall, and walked through a meadow, the sky thick with heavy snowflakes, admiring the first snow flake to stick instead of melt on a mitten.
I watched my group become more comfortable and confident in the out-of-doors, and trusting and caring towards one another. We enjoyed the stunning views from our hike, the icy puddles that shattered with a stomp, the crow that loudly scolded us during the quiet reflection and writing time, the crisp apple for snack, and the joy of the unexpected flush toilet. At times we were all wet, cold, tired and sore, and unenthusiastic about a lunch of cold tomato paste on tortillas, but there was no whining or complaining, just a whole lot of laughing and learning.
Democracy.
What is it worth to you?
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