As the school year begins for a slew of elementary school students, let me be "that" parent. Let me be the parent that tells other parents to stop whining about how unfair their school is. Let me be the parent that tells other parents to appreciate that your school has rules the way that they do for a reason. Here are my top three for elementary school....
Allergy Limitations Seriously, just STOP complaining about this. My kids have no food allergies. Is it always convenient to avoid allergen foods in your kid's lunch? No. But guess what? Your kid may not like any sandwiches except PBJ but you can pack pasta or a bagel or some other option in that cute little sandwich box and it won't kill your kid. Pack a peanut butter sandwich and a child with severe allergy that is even in the same ROOM can go into anaphylactic shock. Seriously, deal with it. There are other options and sometimes you need to suck it up for the sake of another child. It takes a village, my friend.
4 boxes of tissue Okay, I get it. No, really, I do. I have four kids. I've been the mom that has to buy 30 boxes of tissue. It's perfectly acceptable to tell a teacher, "Hey, when you run out of tissue, PLEASE let me know and I'll bring you more then." Teachers don't always want to store it, either. That said, teachers aren't given much money to buy supplies. I'm sorry that you don't like supplying tissue for the classroom but you must remember that you send your little snotty-nose kid to school during cold and flu season when "they're not sick." Everyone does. They're at the end of that cold and they're healthy enough to go to school so you send them. Their nose is still running. Do you send them with their own tissue....how about hand sanitizer. Mm kay then. Suck it up.
Cutting around in the carpool lane Okay this is my pet peeve. It is perfectly acceptable to go up and knock on the window of a mom that decides she wants to take a phone call and just SIT for more than 4 minutes in the carpool lane. What is NOT acceptable is cutting around . Seriously, if 1-3 minutes is the difference between you getting to work on time or not, then you need to change YOUR schedule. You are putting other kids and parents at risk when you cut around traffic unnecessarily. So stop it. Either pull into a parking spot and let your kids out or deal with the extra couple of minutes in the carpool lane. Don't be that guy.
Instead of bitching about what's wrong with your kids' school, how about you praise the things that are right and know that the staff and volunteers are doing their best. Suck up your pride and know that they're kicking ass for YOUR kid too.
Showing posts with label #appreciation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #appreciation. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Saturday, August 6, 2016
Appreciate Your PTSA
I am just as guilty as the next mom of rolling my eyes when confronted by particular members of my PTSA. I've posted before about the annoying PTA moms. You know who you are and you're proud of it. You actually take great pleasure in guilting the single parents who can't make it to your meetings. You take great joy in belittling the working parents that are just too exhausted to make it there. You feel as if you're better than everyone else because you make it to each and every meeting, event and party. You're a better parent, right? No. You're giving a bad name to REAL PTSA moms that are judgmental asses. You're the bad apple that gives a bad name to the whole tree. So today, I'm not going to focus the majority of my post on the rotten fruit. I'm going to focus it on the hundreds of good apples out there.
With that ugliness out of the way, we should be thankful for our PTSA. I know, I know, I'm dodging the rotten tomatoes of those that have the aforementioned butthead PTA parents at their school. Hang in there, they aren't all like that. We should be taking a look at the good PTA parents. Moms, dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and more that are focused on making the school a better place. We should be taking a look at the teachers that work all day and then make time to come to the meetings and make their voices heard because they, too, care and want their schools to succeed. We should be looking at the the community members that are trying to contribute to making our school an amazing place. These are the people we should be thankful for.
Maybe you don't know what the PTSA at the majority of schools does. Let me give you a brief list of what it can include: dinners for teachers during conferences, school dances, pep club for sports events, spaghetti dinners, donuts for dads, muffins for moms, science fairs, talent shows, funding for teachers to have new equipment and/or necessary supplies, funding for kids that can't afford to do special events, and more. There are so many arms attached to the PTSA octopus that we don't even see. We don't necessarily realize that it's as important as it is. The PTSA is our school's voice. It's the way that our community can speak out to better the next generation.
For every aggravating PTSA parent, there are 20 great ones that just want you to be involved. Some are better than others at knowing how to make that happen. Be patient with the new ones because they're doing the best they can and better than most of it could hope to. The seasoned ones know exactly how to promote growth. They know what the needs of the parents are and how to boost volunteerism within the community. They spend countless hours of their own time working on PTSA events. They spend hours on the phone trying to arrange volunteers. They spend hours in their garage building props for the book fair. They spend hours cleaning up afterwards when the parents who volunteer forget and don't show up. They know what they need to do and they learn what they don't know. They are the champions of our schools' needs.
So take a moment and join your local PTSA for your school. If you can attend the meetings, try to. If you can't, try to keep up to date on what's going on. Shake the hand of the people that are fighting to make your school a better place and know that they are a great asset to your children's school experience.
With that ugliness out of the way, we should be thankful for our PTSA. I know, I know, I'm dodging the rotten tomatoes of those that have the aforementioned butthead PTA parents at their school. Hang in there, they aren't all like that. We should be taking a look at the good PTA parents. Moms, dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and more that are focused on making the school a better place. We should be taking a look at the teachers that work all day and then make time to come to the meetings and make their voices heard because they, too, care and want their schools to succeed. We should be looking at the the community members that are trying to contribute to making our school an amazing place. These are the people we should be thankful for.
Maybe you don't know what the PTSA at the majority of schools does. Let me give you a brief list of what it can include: dinners for teachers during conferences, school dances, pep club for sports events, spaghetti dinners, donuts for dads, muffins for moms, science fairs, talent shows, funding for teachers to have new equipment and/or necessary supplies, funding for kids that can't afford to do special events, and more. There are so many arms attached to the PTSA octopus that we don't even see. We don't necessarily realize that it's as important as it is. The PTSA is our school's voice. It's the way that our community can speak out to better the next generation.
For every aggravating PTSA parent, there are 20 great ones that just want you to be involved. Some are better than others at knowing how to make that happen. Be patient with the new ones because they're doing the best they can and better than most of it could hope to. The seasoned ones know exactly how to promote growth. They know what the needs of the parents are and how to boost volunteerism within the community. They spend countless hours of their own time working on PTSA events. They spend hours on the phone trying to arrange volunteers. They spend hours in their garage building props for the book fair. They spend hours cleaning up afterwards when the parents who volunteer forget and don't show up. They know what they need to do and they learn what they don't know. They are the champions of our schools' needs.
So take a moment and join your local PTSA for your school. If you can attend the meetings, try to. If you can't, try to keep up to date on what's going on. Shake the hand of the people that are fighting to make your school a better place and know that they are a great asset to your children's school experience.
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
Appreciate Your School's Staff
With school starting up again soon (though in some places it's already begun), I want to take this opportunity to remind you to appreciate your school's staff. Now, before you suffer the slap in the back of the head for saying, "But there's Teacher Appreciation Day for that," let me go ahead and remind you that the teachers and staff at your children's school are largely responsible for molding your child's awesome personality and habits. Today, though, I'm focusing on the non-teaching staff of the schools.....
Appreciate Your Principal/Vice Principal: Whether you've had a flawless school year and scarcely encountered the principal in the past or you've been in his or her office constantly, they truly do represent a big part of your school's overall experience. You can agree or disagree with them and that's okay but remember that they have the best interests of the school at heart and they have a very difficult job.
Appreciate Your Superintendent: I have had the opportunity to personally speak to ours and cannot compliment him enough on how well he's handled our schools. They have a tough job to try and represent everyone while making sure that the needs of the ones that need it most are met in the best way that they can be.
Appreciate Your School Nurse: You may roll your eyes when she calls to ask if your child can have a Tylonel but appreciate her job. She is there for every belly ache, headache, earache but she's also there for every asthma attack, insulin shot, broken bone and more.
Appreciate Your Office Staff: I seriously love the office staff at all of my kids' schools. They are so completely friendly and wonderful. Your office staff might know you by name (like mine does) or they might be overwhelmed with the amount of people but remember that these people are doing the job of many, many people all combined into one nice, messy package.
Appreciate Your Janitorial Staff: I cannot say this enough. Teach your child to be respectful and clean up after themselves and teach them to always show appreciation to the janitorial staff. They keep your child's school clean and have to deal with everything from muddy feet to vomit.
Appreciate Your Bus Driver: Lord, have mercy, they do a job I couldn't do. I love kids but being on a bus with a whole slew of them moving around and being silly...yeah, I couldn't. Appreciate their job and the stuff they put up with.
Appreciate Your Volunteers: I cannot preach this to enough people. Appreciate the moms, dads, grandmas, aunts, uncles, nannies or whoever else is volunteering at your child's school. They might be doing something seemingly "simple" by reading a book to a kindergarten class but they are taking time out of THEIR day to do something awesome. Sometimes it's as simple as making copies and sometimes it's wrangling a crew of kindergarten students. Regardless, it's awesome.
This may not cover the whole crew but hopefully this gives you a start. Say a big "thank you" when you register your kids. Then continue that throughout the year. They truly are wonderful!
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Police
Now that I'm all caught up on my blogging, I'm going to talk to you about something that I find to be rather important..... the planned assault on police officers that seems to be taking place. This isn't about black lives matter or white lives matter or latino lives matter or anything else. I do believe that all lives matter. I do believe that there are a whole lot of televised/youtubed videos that don't show the whole story. This is all a topic for another, much longer discussion.
What I'm talking about today is planned assaults on police officers. It is NEVER okay. Do I believe there are probably "bad" police officers? Yes. I believe that there are "bad" people in nearly every profession on the planet. There are "bad" priests that assault children but the majority of priests are good men. There are "bad" teachers that assault children but the majority of teachers are good people. There are "bad" businessmen, trash men, waiters, managers, doctors, dentists, nannies, veterinarians, celebrities, athletes and everything else on the planet but the MAJORITY are not bad people. The myth that all police officers are bad is misleading and just plain wrong.
If you had any clue what most of these officers dealt with on a daily basis, you'd be amazed at how much they can endure. If you understood what they dealt with, you'd know that it is in their training and experience to be extremely cautious. The vast majority of times (and you can google REAL statistics to see this), if you simply follow what an officer says to do, nothing out of the ordinary will take place. I cannot stress enough the importance of the first part of that, though..... follow what the officer says. Police men and women deal with some truly terrible people. You may not mean anything by reaching for your pocket but they may have had someone an hour before that "innocently" reach for their pocket and draw a weapon. You see, what you think is nothing can often be a very big "something." Listen to their directions. It's that simple.
If you are one of the people planning an assault on an officer, I'd like to ask you the following: why? Are you basing your anger on lies? Are you truly looking at the situations or are you just feeding into the media hype? I say this all the time and I will say it again: educate yourself. Truly read from all sources and learn. Don't just read from one site or one book; read from an abundance of sources and perspectives. You'll learn that the media is just there for ratings.
To the police men and women out there, I'd like to say the following: Thank you. Thank you for your service to our community. Thank you for shielding victims. Thank you for running toward danger when the rest of us are running away. Thank you for being at the car accident. Thank you for helping that abuse victim. Thank you for everything that you do to keep our community safe.
What I'm talking about today is planned assaults on police officers. It is NEVER okay. Do I believe there are probably "bad" police officers? Yes. I believe that there are "bad" people in nearly every profession on the planet. There are "bad" priests that assault children but the majority of priests are good men. There are "bad" teachers that assault children but the majority of teachers are good people. There are "bad" businessmen, trash men, waiters, managers, doctors, dentists, nannies, veterinarians, celebrities, athletes and everything else on the planet but the MAJORITY are not bad people. The myth that all police officers are bad is misleading and just plain wrong.
If you had any clue what most of these officers dealt with on a daily basis, you'd be amazed at how much they can endure. If you understood what they dealt with, you'd know that it is in their training and experience to be extremely cautious. The vast majority of times (and you can google REAL statistics to see this), if you simply follow what an officer says to do, nothing out of the ordinary will take place. I cannot stress enough the importance of the first part of that, though..... follow what the officer says. Police men and women deal with some truly terrible people. You may not mean anything by reaching for your pocket but they may have had someone an hour before that "innocently" reach for their pocket and draw a weapon. You see, what you think is nothing can often be a very big "something." Listen to their directions. It's that simple.
If you are one of the people planning an assault on an officer, I'd like to ask you the following: why? Are you basing your anger on lies? Are you truly looking at the situations or are you just feeding into the media hype? I say this all the time and I will say it again: educate yourself. Truly read from all sources and learn. Don't just read from one site or one book; read from an abundance of sources and perspectives. You'll learn that the media is just there for ratings.
To the police men and women out there, I'd like to say the following: Thank you. Thank you for your service to our community. Thank you for shielding victims. Thank you for running toward danger when the rest of us are running away. Thank you for being at the car accident. Thank you for helping that abuse victim. Thank you for everything that you do to keep our community safe.
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Some Relationship Tidbits
I'm a people watcher. I love to just sit and watch and absorb things. If I'm out in a large crowd, you'll often find me at the outskirts keeping an eye on what everyone else is doing. I'm also fascinated by the psychology of people's personalities and interactions. I can stand on the outside and watch and observe, in a whole lot of cases, why people aren't meshing well. I'm definitely not an expert but here are a few observations that have led to advice, of late.
You can't tease ALL the time. It seems that men, in particular, struggle with this one. In an effort to amuse their significant other, they razz them. It's all in good fun but it can go too far. If that's all you do, the love of your life will start to feel like that's all you think of them. You shouldn't change your dynamic completely....you can still tease and have fun. However, throw some sincere compliments in here and there to let them know they are still the one.
Stop micromanaging. Yes you ladies (most of the time). If you give him a task, stop micromanaging how it gets done. Tell him what you need done and when you need it done and then leave it alone! Seriously focus on the end result and not whether it's done the exact way you need it done or on your timeline. Have a little faith.
Stroke his ego. While we're on the topic of micromanaging and projects, maybe stroke his ego sometimes. No it's not some huge deal in the grand scheme of things that he got the kids all up and off to school without you having to lift a finger but guess what...it's still something worth thanking him for. Try to think of it this way: if you would thank a guest in your house for doing it, you should probably thank him too. I'm not suggesting you blow smoke up his ass but a little bit of appreciation and praise goes a long way.
Tell her she's beautiful. I keep observing men saying, "Well she just stopped trying." While this is a whole different topic that I see happening with both genders but particularly women, her lack of effort doesn't mean you should stop trying to make her feel pretty. I can honestly say that when I've advised friends to make an extra effort to compliment their lady (who they claim wasn't trying), their lady went the extra mile for them. Make it a point to tell her she's beautiful, especially when she's not necessarily feeling that way.
There's a line with flirting and gawking. The line differs from person to person but everyone has some sort of line. For instance, I'm fine with an observation that a girl is hot but flirt with someone else when I'm out with you and I'm done. Some people can't even stand for their significant other to look. Some are fine with flirting if there's no touching. Just remember that there is always a line for it. Find it and don't flirt with the line. You'll save yourself a whole lot of hassle.
and finally....
Use positive language. Guys, she is not your ball and chain or your "old lady." Ladies, stop nagging! I understand that it's a hard habit to break but use positive language. If you need to "nag", sub in two positives for every one negative you need to say. I guarantee you, it will pay off if you put in the effort.
Like I said, I'm not an expert but it never hurts to try something new.
You can't tease ALL the time. It seems that men, in particular, struggle with this one. In an effort to amuse their significant other, they razz them. It's all in good fun but it can go too far. If that's all you do, the love of your life will start to feel like that's all you think of them. You shouldn't change your dynamic completely....you can still tease and have fun. However, throw some sincere compliments in here and there to let them know they are still the one.
Stop micromanaging. Yes you ladies (most of the time). If you give him a task, stop micromanaging how it gets done. Tell him what you need done and when you need it done and then leave it alone! Seriously focus on the end result and not whether it's done the exact way you need it done or on your timeline. Have a little faith.
Stroke his ego. While we're on the topic of micromanaging and projects, maybe stroke his ego sometimes. No it's not some huge deal in the grand scheme of things that he got the kids all up and off to school without you having to lift a finger but guess what...it's still something worth thanking him for. Try to think of it this way: if you would thank a guest in your house for doing it, you should probably thank him too. I'm not suggesting you blow smoke up his ass but a little bit of appreciation and praise goes a long way.
Tell her she's beautiful. I keep observing men saying, "Well she just stopped trying." While this is a whole different topic that I see happening with both genders but particularly women, her lack of effort doesn't mean you should stop trying to make her feel pretty. I can honestly say that when I've advised friends to make an extra effort to compliment their lady (who they claim wasn't trying), their lady went the extra mile for them. Make it a point to tell her she's beautiful, especially when she's not necessarily feeling that way.
There's a line with flirting and gawking. The line differs from person to person but everyone has some sort of line. For instance, I'm fine with an observation that a girl is hot but flirt with someone else when I'm out with you and I'm done. Some people can't even stand for their significant other to look. Some are fine with flirting if there's no touching. Just remember that there is always a line for it. Find it and don't flirt with the line. You'll save yourself a whole lot of hassle.
and finally....
Use positive language. Guys, she is not your ball and chain or your "old lady." Ladies, stop nagging! I understand that it's a hard habit to break but use positive language. If you need to "nag", sub in two positives for every one negative you need to say. I guarantee you, it will pay off if you put in the effort.
Like I said, I'm not an expert but it never hurts to try something new.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Open Letter to Working Moms / Open Letter to Stay at Home Moms
Dear Working Mom,
You're doing great! You probably wish you didn't have to work or, at least, not so much. You probably wish that you could be at all of those functions at your kids' school or that you didn't miss a first word or step. In this, I mourn with you. I mourn the times that I miss with my kids just as much as you mourn your time lost. Every time you start to feel overwhelmed with sadness over not being there, remember that you're doing this for a cause; you're doing this to give your kids a real life. You're fighting a great battle, Mama!
Cherish every single moment you have with them. Even if you're tired, you're still fighting a great battle. You may not be able to provide quantity, but you're providing them quality time. You may never have time for yourself but you make time for them. You may feel like you're not doing enough but, Mama, you are MORE than enough. Your presence with them is of unmatchable importance and you're making it count! You're doing a great job!
Keep your chin up, Mama, because the days that you think you're only doing so-so, your kids think you're the greatest mom in the world. On the days when you think you slacked because you bought cookies instead of making them, your kids are proud to bring in something to donate to their classroom party. On the days when you're feeling defeated and you just throw a frozen pizza in the oven, your kids are excited that they get pizza for dinner. You are stronger and smarter and more wonderful than you can imagine. You are a great mom. You're doing great things!
Sincerely,
Me
************************
Dear Stay at Home Mom,
You're doing great! You probably wish you could have a break...even if it's just for a couple of hours. You're wishing that you could take a bath or go to the bathroom in peace just one time. In this, I feel your pain. I feel for you every single time that you have a moment of complete frazzled craziness and hit your breaking point. Every time you start to feel overwhelmed with stress, remember that you're doing this for a cause; you're doing this to give your kids a real life. You're fighting a great battle, Mama!
Cherish every moment you have with them. I know you're tired, Mama. I know you never get a break. I know you're juggling a million jobs and you almost never get the recognition that you truly deserve. I know that you're kicking butt and taking names and it feels like there's no reward for it besides the smiles of your kids....and more work. You may feel like you're not doing enough but Mama, you are MORE than enough. Your presence with them is of unmatchable importance and you're making it count! You're doing a great job!
Keep your chin up Mama, because the days that you think you're only doing so-so, your kids think you're the greatest mom in the world. On the days when you're sitting in a house full of unvacuumed carpet, dirty dishes, and piles of laundry and you feel like you've failed, you're looking at kids that have had true time filled with real life learning and bonding that they'd never get anywhere else. On the days when you're feeling exhausted and guilty for putting them in front of a movie just to get something done, they're excited that they get to watch a movie for no reason at all. You are stronger and smarter and more wonderful than you can imagine. You are a great mom. You're doing great things!
Sincerely,
Me
I think that both of these types of mamas need to hear this every now and then :)
You're doing great! You probably wish you didn't have to work or, at least, not so much. You probably wish that you could be at all of those functions at your kids' school or that you didn't miss a first word or step. In this, I mourn with you. I mourn the times that I miss with my kids just as much as you mourn your time lost. Every time you start to feel overwhelmed with sadness over not being there, remember that you're doing this for a cause; you're doing this to give your kids a real life. You're fighting a great battle, Mama!
Cherish every single moment you have with them. Even if you're tired, you're still fighting a great battle. You may not be able to provide quantity, but you're providing them quality time. You may never have time for yourself but you make time for them. You may feel like you're not doing enough but, Mama, you are MORE than enough. Your presence with them is of unmatchable importance and you're making it count! You're doing a great job!
Keep your chin up, Mama, because the days that you think you're only doing so-so, your kids think you're the greatest mom in the world. On the days when you think you slacked because you bought cookies instead of making them, your kids are proud to bring in something to donate to their classroom party. On the days when you're feeling defeated and you just throw a frozen pizza in the oven, your kids are excited that they get pizza for dinner. You are stronger and smarter and more wonderful than you can imagine. You are a great mom. You're doing great things!
Sincerely,
Me
************************
Dear Stay at Home Mom,
You're doing great! You probably wish you could have a break...even if it's just for a couple of hours. You're wishing that you could take a bath or go to the bathroom in peace just one time. In this, I feel your pain. I feel for you every single time that you have a moment of complete frazzled craziness and hit your breaking point. Every time you start to feel overwhelmed with stress, remember that you're doing this for a cause; you're doing this to give your kids a real life. You're fighting a great battle, Mama!
Cherish every moment you have with them. I know you're tired, Mama. I know you never get a break. I know you're juggling a million jobs and you almost never get the recognition that you truly deserve. I know that you're kicking butt and taking names and it feels like there's no reward for it besides the smiles of your kids....and more work. You may feel like you're not doing enough but Mama, you are MORE than enough. Your presence with them is of unmatchable importance and you're making it count! You're doing a great job!
Keep your chin up Mama, because the days that you think you're only doing so-so, your kids think you're the greatest mom in the world. On the days when you're sitting in a house full of unvacuumed carpet, dirty dishes, and piles of laundry and you feel like you've failed, you're looking at kids that have had true time filled with real life learning and bonding that they'd never get anywhere else. On the days when you're feeling exhausted and guilty for putting them in front of a movie just to get something done, they're excited that they get to watch a movie for no reason at all. You are stronger and smarter and more wonderful than you can imagine. You are a great mom. You're doing great things!
Sincerely,
Me
I think that both of these types of mamas need to hear this every now and then :)
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