Whoops. In the midst of the teen's and tween's issues (which have been wrapped up as neatly as a sitcom ending for the moment), my calendar went AWOL. This is not an uh-oh of epic proportions, but it is pretty big badness. The Mama's role in our household is generally a managerial position. It's a challenge to manage five people and the assorted furballs while flying absolutely blind. Hopefully, we did not actually miss anything, stand anyone up, or keep anyone waiting as a result of the missing date book.
Anywho. The missing calendar created a debate as to whether the middle school kiddies who made the honor roll would be honored Tuesday or Thursday. I thought it was supposed to be Thursday night, but we turned up one of the kids' parent letters that said it was last night. Despite our excitement over the kids' success, the mister and I find any sort of school event to be a trial. (Neither of us found school appealing when we had to go there. Somehow it never occurred to either of us that if we produced offspring they would need an education. Poor planning on our part!) So our kids get all hyped up courtesy of school announcements, e-mails, and other methods of infusing school spirit into unwitting youth every time there is some school event, only to find that their parents less than jazzed about the prospect of entering the hallowed halls of education.
Last night we attained a new level of Bad Parent. We attempted to bribe the teen and the tween to miss their Honor Roll Ceremonies with a dinner out to celebrate privately. There was some surprise that Middle Child accepted since she absolutely loves anything that reeks of school, accomplishment, praise, peers, or parental fear--- and the ceremony promised all of the above. The Boy was thrilled because he only attends those sorts of ceremonies to humor adults. We went out to dinner, but were back home early enough to feel relaxed with the evening stretching out in all its glorious nothingness before us.
Until Middle Child turned on the water works. Both parents fuming over her acceptance and ingestion of our bribe only to welsh on the deal, we headed off to the middle school. Evan immediately found his place in the ranks (where we could not possibly reach him without a scene). Moments later, Katie returned from the search for her own seat to report that sixth grade was being honored in an entirely separate ceremony on Thursday. *sigh*
4 comments:
Gah! I feel your pain. I didn't like school as a student and as a mom I feel singular pain in playing along. Yes, and I was a teacher for over 10 years. Go figure.
Avoidance usually doubles the pain. Now you get a 2fer. Enjoy the Thursday night event. At least it's near enough you don't have to search for it on your calendar if it turns up.
I never considered that there might be other parents who also cringe at the idea of school events. Thanks again for your authenticity.
Every time we drive by the grade schoolof an evening and see a parking lot full of cars we give each other a high five. ;)
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