School Program

Last night after dinner my kid tells me there's an open house at his class this morning at 9:00. No flyer in his backpack, no listings on their school website. Just a mysterious open house.

I think of my mom when I was a kid. I had the habit of mentioning after dinner that I needed 32 cupcakes for my class the next morning and stuff like that. I must have driven her half crazy -- and she had 5 kids doing this type of thing, I've only got one.

And I don't think people who are not parents have a clue what it's like -- the relentless nature of taking care of kids and the relentless disappointment if you drop the ball for one event. And the idiotic crap the school expects you to do including selling wrapping paper door-to-door for school fund raising and other things that working parents can not fathom adding to their already way too busy lives. There are many disconnects between school as it exists now and the working lives of parents.

You are continuously competing against other colleagues who do not have the ongoing challenges of juggling a more-than-full-time-job (parenting) and a full-time job.

I remember reading a company brochure about sick kid benefits early on when my son was little and I was still doing a classic corporate grind job. They had an employee benefit that was like renting a loaner car when your car was in the shop, but this was a loaner mom if your kid was sick and you had to be at work. All sounded so modern and reasonable. If my kid had a 104 fever all I had to do was drop him off at this hospital day care facility conveniently located 45 minutes from my house in the opposite direction of work, then they would care for him and I could work all day and pick him up at the end of the day.

The brochure was so glossy and pretty. I kept turning it's many panels over trying to find the page that acknowledged NO KID WANTS TO SPEND THE DAY WITH A STRANGER IN A HOSPITAL WHEN THEY'RE SICK WITH AN EARACHE AND A 104 FEVER AND NO MOM WANTS TO LEAVE THEIR KID WITH ANYONE ELSE WHEN THEIR KID IS THAT SICK.

Ever see a movie where a sick kid calls out from their little bed "Paid Day Care Nursey!" instead of 'MOMMY?!"

Off to the 9:00am school program and lucky as hell I don't have a normal working person's 9:00am meeting that must be attended.