We went to Jack's preschool for their fall party two weeks ago and here is my confession: I'm pretty sure I'm going to hate going to my kids' school parties. Probably as much as the teachers hate the massive disruption that having 20 parents in the classroom brings to their every day routine.
It's crowded and chaotic and well . . . dare I say a little pointless? Not the party . . . the party isn't pointless. But dozens of parents there? Maybe a little bit.
But I will continue to go, because I don't want Jack to be the only kid whose parents don't come; though, unless he needed assistance with his costume, he did his best to pretend we weren't there.
I'm sure there's someone out there who can make an argument as to why it's important for parents to be at classroom parties and I might even be persuaded. But fresh off my first one . . . I'm just not feeling it.
3 comments:
I was not a fan of our class parties when I was teaching. We usually made our parties the last 20+ minutes of the day so the parents could take their WIRED kids home!!
Most schools limit parent involvement as the children get older. By organizing room mom teams and such. When that time comes I believe that it's only the 4-5 moms on that committee that are allowed to come. At least that's how they do it 'round these parts. Will goes to the school at our church and we weren't even invited - can you believe it? Not that I was sad, I've had my share of parties from my teaching days - but his first classroom party I might have wanted a say if i could attend. Nevertheless I think I will be very careful about committees I sign up on in the years to come! :)
I have NEVER, not even ONCE had a classroom party. And I hope to never. Seriously. What's the point? For Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, etc, my "themes", games, snacks, books, art projects, songs, etc. ALL revolve around the holiday for at LEAST a full week, if not two (Christmas...I read Christmas books all MONTH). Why have a party day? The whole MONTH (or week) is a party for the kids. For real. If parents want to come visit, they can visit whenever they want. I do sing happy b'day and have a b'day box (wrapped up shoe box & lid with candles on top, books (present) on the inside ) and the b'day friend can bring a snack that day...lots of times the parents chose that day to come in. And I have organized a couple volunteers that come specific days when I have jobs for them (1 at a time). Why in the world would a preschool teacher want 20 parents all at one time?!?! GAAHHHH!!!!!! Save that for outdoor field trips when you need the extra hands! Honestly, the majority of kids act up or else get super clingy when their parents come to school. (That's a normal response to their parent being there...apparently 15-month olds do this too though!! ;)) It can be a bit of a nightmare, though I don't discourage it at all. But one at a time is plenty :) That's just my 2 cents! :) (however, as a parent, I also plan to be at each and every preschool event of E's that I can possibly take off work for!!!) :)
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