Volunteering, bad kids, and play dates

Today I went to volunteer at my daughter’s class.  I must admit that I was a bit nervous. I think some of my nerves came from having to take my son with me.  I kept having visions of him tearing the place apart and the teacher telling me that I was no longer needed.  The other part of my nerves had to do with leaving a good impression on the teacher.  I don’t know why, but I feel like I have to make a good impression on her and then she will be nicer to my kid.  I know that is probably the dumbest thing ever, but I still want to give my daughter one more cool point by being the super helpful Mom.  Of course because I was in the military or the fact that I live within walking distance to the school, I was 15 minutes early.  I was surprised to see the teacher waiting for me at the front door of her classroom with a list of things that she needed done.  The list was quite long and the list was not filled with things that could wait until the end of the week.  I mean, she needed help with homework folders, finishing a craft, working on patterns, cutting out stuff, drawing zebras, and making sure fundraising stuff was in order.  It dawned on me that there was NO WAY she could get all of these things done without help or without taking a ton of work home.  That sucks!

Volunteering at her school went quite well and I finished everything on the list except one little task.  The majority of the children were great.  The children are at the age that they have no filter.  They say exactly what is on their mind.  There were a few kids that were just downright BAD.  They simply didn’t listen and one little girl started to walk down the hall while we were painting. I asked her kindly to sit back down and finish the craft, but the little girl rolled her eyes at me and kept going.   The class has the size of 28 and it took the teacher about 2 minutes to get this little girl back in line, which gave me a peak into how difficult it is to have such a large class.  If she has more than one disruptive child, then she loses precious minutes teaching the other children. Being at my daughter’s school gave me a chance to see her world.  My daughter is generally a shy child, but recently we’ve noticed that she is so sure of herself and taking initiative and I think I know why now.  She came to that school knowing how to read, write and count.  She has nothing to worry about academically and her confidence has sky rocketed.  On the other hand, when I was working with another little girl who didn’t even know how to make the first letter in her name, I could see how unsure she was of herself and that she was struggling in the academic department, which in turn has her struggling socially.  The dynamics of Kindergarten are quite interesting. I’m happy that I will be going back every Wednesday.

Because today was Wednesday, it was also the day we do our science play dates.  Last week, we did the science project at our house and this week it was the other Mom’s turn.  First, let me say that this lady that I have met here is one of the nicest people I have met to date in California. I’m a little freaked out by her though because there is no newness to her.  I feel as though I’ve known her for a long time. The science project was awesome. The kids learned about air being in Ivory soap, which is why it floats and turns to foam in the microwave.  The rest of the time we were there the kids just played and I had the opportunity to have an adult conversation.  Again, I feel like I’ve met this woman before or she use to be on television because she is so easy to talk to and we relate on so many levels.  I don’t want to jinx it, but I think we may become really good friends.  The bonus is that we connect on levels that are dear to me like, motherhood, positivity, and just trying to be a better person.  She gets it and it didn’t hurt that she had African sculptures in her house and I think a picture of a Black person on her wall.