Me!
Well, at least I feel guilty enough to accept that kind of award if one were given out. Yesterday was Hank's last day of preschool and they had a little ice cream social with the parents to celebrate. On the monthly newsletter that they sent home, the ice cream social was hardly mentioned - in fact, they just had it listed on the calendar of events as "Ice Cream Social - 10:30am." So I figured we'd go, eat ice cream, pick up the kiddos, and leave. It was a much bigger deal than that. The kids were all dressed nicely (Hank was wearing a sweatshirt and jeans) and most kids had both parents there, armed with video cameras. I didn't even bring my regular camera. In addition, most of the parents had brought gifts for the teachers (I didn't even think about it). For a second, I thought maybe I could run out to the car and grab a couple packages of tic-tacs and see if that would pass as a gift. I decided against that. Also, the parents each brought an ice cream topping - M&M's, sprinkles, syrup, etc. - I got home later and scoured the newsletter, trying to find the sentence that mentioned that we were supposed to do this. Nowhere did it mention to bring an ice cream topping. Then I dug around in Hank's backpack and found a crumpled note stuffed into the side pocket, which explained in detail the ice cream social. Naturally, this did not help me after the ice cream social was OVER.
The class put on a little play, which was very cute, and then had a little ceremony where each kid got up on the little stage and the teacher read what the student's favorite part of preschool was and what they wanted to be when they grew up. Thankfully, my neighbor brought her camera and was able to take pictures for me when it was Hank's turn, but I still felt like a dope for not having my own camera. Hank said his favorite part of school was "Playing with the cars on the car mat" and that he wanted to be a teacher when he grew up. That made me so proud, since most of the other kids' answers were along the lines of "Spiderman," "A fairy," and "a space alien." (Later, at dinner, when we asked him again, he replied, "a digger guy.") The kids were adorable and we had a really good time. Georgie gobbled up as much ice cream as the toddlers and walked about 10 steps across the room! Then he found a bug on the floor and tried to eat it.
So anyway, thats the sad saga of the ice cream social. I can laugh at my cluelessness now, because I know it won't be the last time I mess up some sort of school activity. I've accepted that I'm going to be the mom that is always 10 minutes late to the PTA meeting (if I manage to make it at all), who just writes out a personal check instead of actually going out there and selling candy bars for the school fundraiser, and who will be running into Walgreens to get a classmate's birthday present 10 minutes before the party begins. My kids are going to be the ones with the chocolate stains on their shirts in the school picture and instead of whipping out the organic whole grain snacks at playdates, you're getting high-fructose corn syrupy fruit snacks at my house. And I guess I'm okay with that. :)
3 comments:
That is too funny! If it makes you feel any better Linliey's teachers handed out CD's with all the pics they took this year to each of the parents. And little gifts to the kids. Me, I had nothing for anyone. Even some parents had their kids give stuff to Linliey! This is just MDO! I felt like a dope...but I got over it as soon as I left!!
Nothing tops the day I forgot school got out early when you were in kindergarten and you walked home crying. It was so cold, your eyelashes were frozen! We all have our "Bad Parent" moments!
Post a Comment