As a citizen, I feel I may not always agree with the decisions of our President, Barack Obama.  I will go so far as to say, I rarely agree with much he says.  As a parent and a citizen, I do respect his role as our commander in chief.  I may not like it, but I do respect it.  I have two children that are still in school, and I decided that we would discuss the President's address before coming to a decision on whether they should view it or not.  Our school district has left it to the individual schools & teachers to decide whether it will be viewed.  My children are twins, one boy and one girl who are both high school freshmen.  My son and I sat and read the President's remarks this morning over breakfast.  I asked my son whether he would like to watch or not if the opportunity presented itself at school.  He chose not to watch.  He read the transcript and made the decision on his own.  I told him I did not see all of the drama I was expecting with all of the coverage about it.  However, I do feel it is a little much and briefer remarks would be more suitable to the school day.

On the other side of our family coin is my daughter.  She has opted to watch the remarks if her teacher shows the broadcast. I think I am confident in my abilities as a parent to engage her on her feelings after watching the remarks and see what she took from it (if anything at all).

As a parent I feel parents should have the final say whether their children should watch or not watch; not the school superintendents, not the principals and not the teachers.  Personally, my decision is to let my children have the choice.  I am actually kind of curious if my daughter will have the opportunity or not.

My question is to President Obama, why wait until now?  Half of the students have already started school, over 3 weeks ago in some cases and are in the middle of instruction.  Why not do it before school begins for all students? Perhaps during prime time when parents can watch it with their children and engage them in conversation regarding their education?  It would have made it less complicated for school districts, school principals, school teachers and school students who may be treated differently based on what they or their parents decide regarding viewing the remarks.  Why open up the can of worms??