Well, this is something that you should enjoy. After much hoopla and ballyhoo B. started first grade today. I didn't know how that was going to work. After my melt down last year in the parking lot and being called an amateur by Ms. Coil, I was concerned that I would have another Hallmark movie moment this year. I will admit that tears kinda flowed today, but for totally different reasons. I should say that when tears come (and boy I can cry with the best of them...Tammy Faye ain't got nothin' on me) usually I cry at movies and the realization that time is so fleeting and I'm missing it. Anyway, on Sat. we went to B. school and discovered that he didn't have a desk or a paper apple with his name on it. We paid the tuition in April or May, and they had no problem cashing the check, but they couldn't add him to a roster? When it's first grade that kind of crap is important (to me). I ran into the teacher's aid (from last year and who is the aid for first grade this year) and asked her what was up.
She told us we weren't on the roster, but she'd take care of it. She did - desk and all were ready to go. I was still kinda fuming from Sat. this morning, and when I got there I watched my son walk around the room searching for a desk with his name on it...I about jumped up the teacher's a** and pulled a Shirley Maclaine and screamed, "Where's my baby's DESK...HE NEEDS IT NOW...NOT in 5 minutes...NOW" About the time I felt my temperature rise the teacher realized some other little punk kid had sat at B. seat. The kid wanted to sit there to be next to his friend that was the desk next to B's desk.
Anyway, the teacher realized the error and had the kid move so B. could set his stuff down. I thought, OMG I will tear the teacher's throat out if she dismisses my child in any way shape or form. I'm not a helicopter parent...I'm the Navy SEAL pulling a black ops mission in the helicopter. It wasn't a good realization, but it made me angry that I had to be concerned that my child wouldn't have a chair on the first day and feel left out.
Is it the look on my kid's face when he's searching for a desk with his paper apple on it that stresses me out... or is it the pit in my stomach when I realize that I can't make a paper apple appear and I will take someone out if they slight my kid? To that I say...Not on my watch!
I'm right there with ya on that one. I felt better after reading your realization about being a Navy SEAL. I've struggled internally with NOT being a pushy helicopter parent this whole summer and D hadn't even started school yet. I guess I'll just fess up to it and own it like you did. This year I'll claim helicopter mom and next year, I'm sure I'll be right there with you as a Navy SEAL.
ReplyDeletePS I sent D with his own book to read this morning before school started...wonder what the teacher thought of that? Oh, well. The kid sneaks and stays up late to read all the Magic Treehouse books; what am I to do?