MARK MY WORD: STAGE RISERS BRING OUT THE BEST IN SCHOOL KIDS

It's hard to believe they could stand there so long without breaking ranks.

Naturally, I'm talking about Kindergarten students.

Our 6-year-old daughter, Becca, never would have stood that still at home.

But there she was the other night, standing on the second row of risers and singing on cue, along with all the other Alma Schrader kindergarteners at the spring concert in Central High School Auditorium.

The school's spring concert also involved performances by first, second and third graders.

Our 2-year-old daughter, Bailey, joined in her own brand of singing from our seats in the audience.

There's nothing like a school concert to make you proud to be a parent, particularly when your daughter is standing there all dressed up and smiling like an angel.

Of course, I snapped off a few photos of the special occasion in an effort to preserve those school-day memories.

Joni and I were thrilled. It was our first spring concert. You can't help but feel good about a public school system that can get countless kindergarteners to stay in line and sing the "Animal Alphabet" song.

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised by the on-stage performances. After all, they've been in training longer than our dog, Rosie.

Rosie doesn't sing. She does, however, bark. Actually, it's more of a puppy whine than a doggie bark.

At our home, we're still training Rosie. More accurately, our dog is trying to train us.

Rosie still likes to chew on everything. She views anything and everything as a chew toy. She'll munch on everything from rocks to socks.

We're still trying to get Rosie potty trained. Bailey isn't potty trained either. But at least, Bailey wears disposable diapers.

It seems to me that what pet owners desperately need is doggie diapers. Perhaps P&G should look into the idea. It could really expand their diaper market.

When Rosie isn't chewing on our shoes and socks, she is often outside.

She used to stay close to the house. But now she's venturing farther out.

On Saturday, various neighbors kept returning Rosie after she wandered off.

I'm not used to this experience. Our children haven't wandered off.

They prefer to hang around us in hopes that we'll get them something to drink or at least retrieve their shoes from the bowels of the couch.

After Rosie assaulted the couch several times the other day despite our repeated "no, no, no" warnings, Becca pointed out that the dog was doing a poor job of listening.

Becca and Bailey have both been known to suffer from the same ear problem. But to their credit, they've never assaulted the couch or dug up a bone in the front yard.

Thanks to the spring concert, I'm convinced that all parents would do well to put risers in their homes, if only to bring some order to the chaos of everyday family life.

If your children sing on key, that's an added bonus.

~Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.