Back to school: I wish I could be late Monday Published Aug. 24, 2007 By Brig. Gen. Darrell Jones 37th Training Wing Commander LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Every year I encourage parents to take their kids to the first day of school. It's really important and can have a lasting impression. This is the first year we don't have school-age kids in the house. The first day of school will not be the same. Why do I think this is so important? I'll retell a story I printed last year: I have a friend who walked his daughter to school on the first day of classes each year, even during the difficult teen years when she did not want people to know she had parents. (During those years he saw her off at the house.) She graduated from high school, and he took her to college orientation a week before classes started. The next Monday, when she left her dorm for her first college class, she was floored to find her father sitting on the hood of his car outside her dormitory. He had driven four hours in the middle of the night so he was ready at 7:30 a.m. to walk his daughter to school like he had done for the last 12 years. Today, that young lady is a college professor with a Ph.D. She still tells that story to anyone who will listen. That's how you make a lasting impression on your kids. Many Airmen are deployed around the world and can't walk their kids to school. Let's take advantage of the fact that we have this opportunity to make a difference. What we do is very important, but we're not too busy to make an impact on our kids. So, ask your supervisor if you can be late on the first day of school. I'm sure they'll be supportive.