Holy Chowder, People!

The start of the school year is five days away and I am already wiped out!   This week was Verification Day (registration and; the meet/greet, basically) on Thursday and Friday (today).   I spent 4 hours at school on Tuesday folding t shirts, cleaning out our closet and working on another to-do list.  Wednesday found me at school again for for 3 1/2 more hours, followed by another 4 hour shift on Thursday (Day 1 of Verification Day) and another 5 hours today.

Our school asks parents to commit to 10 hours of volunteer time throughout the year, either at school or in the community.  Suffice to say I've done my 10 hours.  Our Principal and Assistant Principal don't believe me when I say I'm done with volunteering for the year & won't be back--I wonder why?!!

Thursday night's registration was crazy busy which was good for the PTO.  The school year hasn't started yet and already I have teachers hitting us up for money!  We give grant money to all faculty members.  Teachers with full time classrooms receive a little more than those teachers who are specialists & visit different classrooms throughout the day.  Our Media Center (and the Super Bookatarian) receives more, as do our Art, Music and PE teachers and Guidance Counselor as they have all students in the school.  

I'm often amazed by the behavior of adults.  It was announced earlier that a friend of mine who taught 4th grade last year would be moving to 3rd grade, which would leave 3 sections (classes) in 4th grade.  As the Principal started to do the roster, he discovered that the 3 sections would be close to maxed out for that age group and a 4th section might be necessary.  This impacted the 3rd grade registrants as they can't meet their teacher if the roster can't be competed right now.  

People, let me tell you, grown adults lost their minds over this.  There was one mother who literally threw a hissy fit in the middle of the hallway after one of the teachers explained the situation.  Then she came to the cafeteria where she threw a mild fit to one of the PTO board members.  I was helping another parent so I didn't hear the entire exchange but Super Bookatarian came to the rescue and tried to diffuse the situation.  Nope, hissy mom threw another hissy fit.

THEN. . .

she got on our Facebook page and began another rant about how HARD it was for her kids not to be able to meet their teachers (they met ALL the teachers for the grade levels) and not see their classrooms (they had the opportunity to see ALL the classrooms).  My VP and  I both commented that our children were in the same situation, as was our Treasurer and oh, about 275 kids.  Do we wish we knew who our teacher was?  Of course.  Will we be okay finding out on Tuesday before school starts? Yes.  Hissy Mommy then went on to say how they toured all the elementary schools in our district before deciding on our school and  purchasing a home in our zone.

Silly girl, so did we.  And so did our VP.  And a host of other families.

If you ever have to wonder why there are so many uber fragile children with a sense of entitlement walking this earth, look no further than their parents.

Kids are more resilient than we give them credit for being.  Sunshine has taught me this in her young life.  

So, my year as PTO President begins.   I'm glad that I'm surrounded by friends on the Executive Board.  Women who are strong, smart, creative and hard workers.  And who have a great sense of humor.  Something tells me we're going to need it this year!