Remember when pre-school was called 'babysitter'?

Granted, I’m a bit old fashioned, but I think getting to work on good roads and bridges is just a little more important than having the state government babysit my pre-kindergarten children. 

But, of course, I grew up in a time when pre-school wasn’t even heard of and how I managed to survive without it is beyond me. But back in my day, Mum used to drop us kids off at the babysitter’s, which later on changed to day care, and then a license was required for the neighbor down the street to babysit your child and don’t forget the insurance required to run the day-care center and then you must have a certified nutritionist on board to make sure that Johnny and Jane are getting a proper lunch and a snack. 

But wait as second, peanut butter and jelly, way too much sugar and we don’t want Johnny or Jane hyperactive, now do we? A snack? Oh my gosh, a Ding-Dong or a Ho-Ho, what are you thinking? They need an apple or an orange or perhaps some carrot sticks; yummy!

Some things never change, a 3-year-old or a 4-year-old are just that. They are not little mini-computers that we need to feed a program into; they’re kids and left alone at that age to their own devices, they will learn how to play with others around them, batteries not included.

Meanwhile I’m going to be a little late picking up Johnny or Jane at the pre-pre-school learning center, since I hit a pothole and knocked the whole front end of my car out of alignment. What is state government for anyway? —Jim Garvey, Kalispell