I am going to go ahead right here and admit it, we just might be a teensy bit close to completely losing our inner moral compass.  This past week has been one backpack full of back to school stories citing the many must have back to school goodies for kids; from the latest lunch boxes or video games, clothing, sneakers, hair accessories and video gadgets. In the midst of all the material stuff, I haven’t heard much back to school discussion about the pure old school importance of responsibility and participation.
 
Sure, it’s nice and sparkly when kids come to school armed with the coolest pencil or lunch box, nicest threads or biggest backpack full of books, but in truth, none of these things will help inspire or improved student achievement without personal responsibility and participation on the parts of parents, aunts, uncles, teachers and other community stakeholders.
 
Look, we’re all busy, we have jobs, relationships, important meetings, and of course Twitter and Facebook pages to update and texts to respond to and voicemails to ignore (who really ever leaves a voicemail anyway?)
 
I was at lunch the other day and there was a family of four at a table, dad was on his cell phone, mom was texting, the tween son was playing a video game and the infant just sat there wondering where her family went. This went on for almost an hour. No one spoke to each other, the waitress received more communication while taking their food orders than the family shared with each other during their entire lunch.  I see this all the time, is this who we have become? Are we simply people who have checked out of our actual relationships and put everything into our incredibly important social relationships? Seriously, is there anything happening in Twitter land or Facebook that is worth missing out an opportunity to teach your one year old nephew colors at the table using sugar packets? Or asking your teenage niece why she suddenly doesn’t like her old BFF from last year?
 
The idea of dedicating even thirty seconds to “the best back to school cell phones” for school aged kids or offering suggestions for texting is cause for deep alarm. Are you kidding me? What is the benefit of encouraging the start of a tech habit at age ten? Is there really any viable reason for any child in school to have a cell phone on campus? We are only contributing to an larger issue we will eventually have to deal with years down the road on a national level.I know it may seem like ancient history, but we did survive years of the school office nurse calling parents direct in the event of an emergency. My mom did show up to take me home when I fell off the monkey bars in second grade.

Bye Bye Blackberry
 
Educators will tell you, much like health reform and services, the ideals of education reform are closely tied to the responsibility issue, as a village , we need to be engaged with education providers, with teachers, and schools to achieve the benefits that they offer. It's a two way street. Back to school is an opportunity for us  as aunts, parents  extended family, and community-at-large to be present and participate intellectually, spiritually and wholly, and to lead by example. No person left behind.  It’s a great time to ask questions, be really involved and make a difference in our nieces and nephews lives,  even if their parents have perhaps lost their minds now and then and send them off to school with a sparkly new iPhone.
 
I made a deal with my nephews Jack and Cole, when we are together, it’s bye bye Blackberry, I don’t send or receive texts or make any calls. We all have habits, and I can lead by example that I need to break this one, and show them I’m working on it , they are worth it, and I cherish the time I spend with them.
 
If I engage in any PDA action while we are together, I owe them one dollar every time I violate this deal, which goes straight to the cute piggy banks we painted together at Color Me Mine last year.
 
Like many of us, I am a small business owner, and most of my deals are made via Blackberry and updates on social media sites help generate business. But when I am no longer here,  I doubt I  will be wondering if my last Twitter posting made a difference in my world, but I will be thrilled that I contributed to Cole becoming a successful action sports athlete and businessman, who happens to also know how to build a computer on his own.