The American Spectator

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p> SPECIAL DELIVERY br> Re: Lawrence Henry's "A Special Kind of Me" : /p>

What a down-to-earth treat, reading Lawrence Henry's views on the "Special Me" poem. Probably the treacly poetess meant "unique," but thank God she didn't use it, or it would have been prefaced by "very" or "extremely," as unique is never quite unique enough to stand alone these days. I will never hear "special" again without thinking of Dana Carvey's SNL "church lady" -- "isn't that spesshhull?"

My 5-year-old grandson is in kindergarten and after six weeks I am still baffled at the low level of expectations his teacher has -- as indicated by her mania for star stickers, "Great Job" remarks and Smiley Faces. So, together we de-construct his class work and decide if a star sticker was truly warranted. One such starred paper asked the children to color the scene that most nearly described where they lived. One was a big city with tall buildings, a bus and a taxi in the street. The other a pastoral setting. My grandson colored the city scene. He lives in Half Moon Bay where if there is anything taller than his two-story house, I have not seen it. I asked him why he colored what looked like New York City. He said "Curious George lives there." I said "Yes, but you are not Curious George. You did not read the instructions and you should not have received a star." Apparently his teacher didn't read them, either.

I was struck by Mr. Henry's sane approach to helping his sons rein in emotions. My middle grandson always got mad when I beat him at Scrabble. I just told him, "Look, I play to win -- whether you are thirteen or thirty-five. You want to win? Expand your vocabulary."

Long ago we had a saying -- now gone out of vogue, because of the need to make children feel "special." It was "Prepare your child for the road and you will not be forever preparing the road for your child." Worked for my sons. Seems to be working with my grandsons.

p>I was gratified and a little amused that one grandson recently chose for his "quote" under his Year Book picture, "Global Warming is a sham." I just hope there are no environmentalists on his water polo team, as it seems to be the only sport where you are entitled to drown your opponent. This is the second to "letter" in swim and water polo. I asked the first, who is 6'4" and excels in other sports, why he chose water sports. He said "You don't sweat and there are no floor burns." He is the one who, at sixteen, endeared himself to all at Thanksgiving as each guest gave thanks, by saying with a happy grin, "I'm thankful for the internal combustion engine." Irreverent, but heartfelt. We had just given him his grandpa's well-preserved 1977 El Camino. br> -- Diane Smith br> South San Francisco, California /p>

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