In one of the blog posts I wrote from Uganda, I said I’d make every effort not to complain about having a tough day at school. After seeing what the people there go through just to eat and have something to live in, and care for their kids, much less put their kids in school (if a school is even available), I just need to shut up when I have a tough day at one of my lovely Southern California schools.

Also, it’s important to stay in the “real world” when it comes to middle schoolers. The real world means:  middle schoolers can be fun, but they can also be incredibly self-absorbed. In most cases, self-absorbed part outweighs the fun part. That’s all fine, as long as you don’t forget that, and prepare yourself for it and don’t take what they say too seriously. In other words, stay in the real world regarding middle schoolers.

So, keeping the real world thing in mind, and keeping the whole Uganda perspective thing in  mind, all I can say about some of today’s middle school moments is this:  I think a bunch of today’s 8th graders should probably take a trip to Uganda.

And it wouldn’t be the end of the world if a couple of them stayed there forever.  (whoops… sorry!)