Daddy Winebucks

As a work at home dad, the daily grind of my kid’s homework falls on me.  This was a fairly easy task in kindergarten, first and even second grade.  Now though, as third has kicked in, more and more I’m realizing that I can’t help.

Oh, I’ll sit and try and figure out that if Mary has forty-eight strawberries and thirty-six oranges and gives two of each to her classmates, how many will each girl receive.  And I thought I used to know that if you were adding an apostrophe to the end of “children” to signify possession it was children’s (or is it childrens’).  But the truth is I don’t remember and have generally left it up to my son whether it’s correct or not.  He’s usually right.

But it brings up the age old question, one that can only be contemplated by adults in the work force, just how much of this elementary learning will be truly useful to our kids in the next decade of their lives?  As I go about my everyday to do list, math is handled by computer programs that calculate anything I need, be it inventory management or sales tax in Texas.  Grammar check assists me when I say “their” but meant “they’re” and frankly, the only bits of my education that can be used in my winery life is, well, if I think of something I’ll get back to you.

I often joke that the only people who really need higher education are doctors and lawyers and most of us find ourselves in  other fields by the time our parents kick us out – the first or second time – to “get a job.”

Certainly I’m not advocating the end of the education system as we know it – though many would argue it’s already dead and buried.  But ask my sons what they want to be when they grow up and as of right now it’s a hockey and soccer player respectively.  What did I want to be?  A movie director.  Instead I found myself running a software company and now a winery.  And of all the great people I’ve worked alongside and continue to share my day with, not one of them used GPS to get there.  Meaning we all find our path eventually.

The wine business has traditionally been a family affair.  Maybe there is something profound in wine’s simplicity, a je ne sais qua, that coupled with an inability to understand the square root of Pi, draws the offspring back to the nest.

So, do I secretly hope my kids end up alongside me with their “virtual” laptops (or whatever Apple has in store for us by 2020) ready to release the new vintages?  Yeah, I kind of do.

It’s way too quiet without them here during the day.  So much so that I can’t wait to do homework…