| Religion calendar
THE GLOBAL DAY OF PRAYER , with people in more than 195 nations gathering publicly to pray, will be locally from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday at the Hilton Vancouver Washington, 301 W. Sixth St., Vancouver. The annual day of repentance and prayer started in South Africa in 2000. Clark County church and marketplace leaders are hosting the event, which will also be broadcast live on KKPZ-AM 1330. ERNIE COUCH & REVIVAL will perform gospel music at the 11 a.m. Sunday worship service at Manor Evangelical Church, 17913 N.E. 72nd Ave., Battle Ground. An offering will be taken. * Call 360-574-3584. A FAREWELL DINNER for Brandi Hacker begins at 5:30 p.m. Sunday at St. Andrew Lutheran Church, 5607 N.E. Gher Road, Vancouver. Hacker, who has been an intern at St. Andrew for the past year, is returning to the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago to complete her last year of pastoral studies.
The Daddying Movement
I propose naming this revolution the daddying movement. I coined the term daddying more than a decade ago to describe the active, involved exuberance of my parenting, and the parenting of other men I knew. “Fatherhood" seemed passive and dull, flat and one-dimensional; its gerund, “fathering," suggested a one-time biological act, requiring no greater commitment than a bit of DNA. “Daddying" conveyed the sense of the lifelong process that I relished as I embraced my responsibilities for my children's well-being: physical, emotional, social, intellectual, creative, moral and spiritual. Becoming a parent changes one's identity instantly and forever. This new word not only captures that fundamental change, but also embodies the realization that fathers matterin their presence as well as their absence.
The in-tray
Gordon Brown has already announced a review of numeracy strategy and promised one-to-one tuition for pupils most at risk of falling behind. A target of 85% of 11-year-olds reaching expected levels in maths and English last year was not reached. He is worried about boys falling behind. "The challenge is to restart progress," says Richard Brooks, associate director at the Institute for Public Policy Research. "We also need to start closing the gap between those on free school meals and the rest." There is a need to engage pupils and parents at secondary school as Labour moves to raise the age for compulsory education or training to 18. Diplomas for 14-19-year-olds as alternatives to GCSEs and A-levels start next year. University tuition fees rise to £3,070 in September but applications in England are up 6%.
|
