Not about knitting at all, at all

We aren’t cool parents.  Never have been, never will be.  First of all, we are old.  Truly, how many 13 year olds have 60 year old Moms or 63 year old Dads.  And, gasp, we have rules:  chew with your mouth closed, use a napkin, sit up straight, change the toilet paper.  I mean geez, we are hard-nosed.  But I would like to think that we have tried to get our kids to be themselves.  While it is hard to get across to them, that they only get one crack at high school and they should get involved, we also want to encourage them to be themselves. 

Do what you love!  Be all that you can be!  Demand more!  Make a couple of really good friends and you will have them forever.  Good advice from not-so-cool parents to their kids.  Oh, that would be Dave and I.  So you get interested and involved when your kid(s) get involved in something that they really like doing.  Then came marching band, band camp, symphonic band, etc.

The girls didn't do marching band.  First of all they went to an all girls high school and the only football games played by the girls were done in prom dresses as part of a powder puff game.  Plus, they played the piano (Sarah) and violin (Lindsey).  Neither instrument lends itself well to marching band.  Snort. 

Zachariah plays the trumpet.  His trumpet teacher played with the North Olmsted High School Marching Band.  Even if Zachariah had gone to one of the local all boys schools, he would have been in marching band.   

Marching band is not just the weird kids that play musical instruments wearing funky uniforms to every Friday night football game.  It is more.  Remember the "demand more."  It is part of that more.  Many of the kids that play musical instruments are artistic, funny, brilliant, shy, outgoing, clumsy, popular and/or geeky.  In marching band you get them all. 

And the great equalizer is the uniform.  Truly.  Everyone looks the same.  Unisex.  Some uniforms are sharp and stylish (those schools must spend a small fortune on them), while others are traditional.  That would be the NOHS marching band uniforms . . . after all, if they have been in use for 30 years, they must be traditional.  There is, however, a lot to be said for traditional.  The cost savings alone is primary.  Someone told me to purchase new uniforms (hats, jackets, pants) is $400/each.  That would take some serious fundraising.

While some people might think that the kids don't look good in the uniforms, I have to disagree.  I think they look great.  No matter if you are the youngest, dorky freshman or the senior 6' stud that can make the drum line rock, you look good.  Again, the uniform equalizes EVERYONE. 

And, for the record, I LOVE the spats.  Our team wears white spats.  You really see the difference when two marching bands are on the field and one has spats and one doesn’t.  The spats showcase the rhythm and consistency of the marching band.  You just don’t get it from those bands that are wearing black pants, black socks and black shoes. 

Plus, the uniforms don't come home.  Really.  The kids pick them up before the game.  They return 

them after the game.  A group of parents (i.e., the Moms), re-hem, sew buttons, fix lapels, every week during the season.  And, when they start to stink (and they will, since they are wool), they are sent out to be dry-cleaned.  Really.  Except for the socks and the under-armour that the kids wear, you don't have to worry about cleaning the uniform.  However, I do recommend investing in quality socks and shoe sanitizers.  Marching around on wet muddy fields can tend to lead to stinky feet. 

Band provides kids from different grades and areas and likes/dislikes to comingle.  Your freshman may never have met some of the seniors.  They need to perform.  They need to practice.  They need to learn to work together.  Marching in band is not something that you just "do."  Everyone needs to learn how to do it and it is the older students who make sure that the younger students get it.  They take care of each other.  Not only during band but at other times in school.  We've only been at this one season, but I am awed by the way the older kids treat the younger kids.

Band Camp.  Talk about serious exercise.  All day for a week, no matter the weather.  It is hard, exhausting, tiring but according to my son and others that I have talked to, it is also awesome, fun, great and totally cool.  They concentrate on their music and they don't know that they are getting a workout.  I am sure that someone has done a study on how many calories are burned marching for five days from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in August in Northeast Ohio, but I am sure it is a whole lot. 

And after day after day of marching, they sleep really well, even with the cat, at 6:00 p.m. on the porch

As for me, there is also the commaradarie that is formed.  When you sit around sewing buttons and hems every Wednesday for weeks, you learn things.  You learn that your kid isn't the only geeky one in the bunch.  You learn which teachers are great and which are iffy.  If you or your student has an issue, you learn who to go to in the School Administration (and it isn't always the principal . . . LOL).  When you work the concessions on Friday nights, you get to meet other people and learn other things.  Band parents are really nice.  They are concerned not only for their kids, but for all the kids.  And they tell the best stories.  

Band kids are busy.  They are marching or practicing and doing homework and practicing and sleeping.  And you will find that, while they are in the car, they will start drumming out band songs.  It is kind of difficult to get in trouble when you are marching.