Many moms are eager to jump into the coveted position of Class Mom. At Back to School Night, I witnessed one literally leap out of her seat to hand the teacher a piece of paper to use as the sign-up sheet. Her name was pre-written in the first spot.
It’s not that I don’t want to be Buckaroo’s class mom; of course I do! I mean, who wouldn’t want to form a relationship with their child’s teacher & get the first invite to class parties? But, in my case, Buckaroo’s 504 Plan stipulates that I need to be the class mom to coordinate all food that will enter the room for parties, so whether or not I wanted the job, it was mine. It was really important to DaddyMac & I that Buckaroo not suffer socially due to his food allergies, and in Kindergarten particularly, class parties are a huge part of their socialization.
But, I am sad to admit that I suck as a class mom.
I never do things half-a$$, that’s just not who I am. I plan pretty cool birthday parties, and I put loads of thought into the simplist gifts. So, why is it so hard for me to step up to the plate with the whole class mom thing?
I think that on some level, I fear that the other moms will view me as that mom–you know, the one who over-does-it to win over the affection of the teacher. The one who is always around. The one who has to control every aspect of the party. That one. I’m not gonna lie, my OCD tendencies put me as a prime candidate to become that mom, and I consciously work at not becoming her. But now I fear that they all think I am the suckiest class mom ever, & that label blows more. {Note to self: stop caring about what other people think.}
In early December, one of the moms left me a message asking if I planned to hold a collection to buy the teacher a nice gift from the class. I called her and said that I planned to do that at the end of the year, but that if she wanted to coordinate it for the holidays, I would appreciate it {see, I’m getting better at delegating. or accepting help I should say.} But then a week before Christmas, I realized no letter went home so I called her.
Me: Hi. It’s the CEO. I remember that you said you’d send a letter home asking for money for the teachers holiday gift. Have you had the chance to send that out?
Her: No.
Me: Okay. Well, there’s just a week left, do you want me to get that done for you? {Note to self: Screw delegating. if you want something done, do it yourself.}
Her: That would be great!
When I told DaddyMac the story, he told me that sending home a note asking for money a week before Christmas would make me look like an a$$ because the other parents would not know this other mom never did her part. I told him that I didn’t care and that I just wanted her to have a nice gift.
The note went home on a Thursday. I got money from 3 kids on Friday. And then it snowed the week of Christmas and the kids never went back to school. I waited to see if money would trickle in those first few days back from the break, but only one more envelope came home to me. So there I was, the morning of the rescheduled class party, buying a $25 Macys Gift Card (possibly the most unthoughtful gift card I could find) for a really fantastic well-deserving teacher.
Then, after feeling guilty for not planning a craft for the kids to make at Halloween, I vowed to have a fun one planned for the holidays. I feverishly drank 15+ bottles of coffeemate creamer since Halloween in order to make these Snowmen with the kids:
Even they sucked too {the vision was much better in my mind, honestly.}
So, there ‘ya have it. If there is any hope for me as a Class Mom, it’ll be because of you, my readers! Please help a fellow Mom out and share some of your best Class Mom/Class Party ideas with me!!
