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April 12, 2005
The Dirty Secret
You think school is challenging and stressful when you’re a student, but the dirty secret is that it’s even worse when you’re a parent. And you’re not even being graded– at least with letters. Don’t be fooled; people keep score.
While you’re suffering through colic and diapers and the terrible two’s and three’s, you comfort yourself by thinking: soon this kid will go to school and I will have some free time. Sucker!
The fallacy of this belief was driven home to me several years ago when my oldest son, Finn, came home from kindergarten on a Friday with a note.
We are starting our unit on plants. Monday your child needs to bring a seedling to school.
I read the note a couple of times to make sure I wasn’t missing something. A seedling? Wasn’t that an assignment only God could fulfill in such a short time? After rejecting the idea of sending Finn to school with a package of bean sprouts, I went in the yard and dug up a weed, roots intact, and sent him to school with it. No one said anything, so I guess I passed.
So I was not wholly surprised earlier today when I got an email from Porter’s teacher.
Mother’s Day is coming up and we are making a present for you. Please send in $6 cash and 4 horizontal 4×6 color pictures of you and your child by this Friday.
The cash I can handle. The pictures are a problem. I might have had some if Porter were the oldest child, instead of part of the 2nd/3rd child combo. I don’t know that he’s ever been in a picture without Drew. And because I am always the picture taker, not the takee, I am not in any pictures. Thus, the chances of my having a picture of just me and Porter are about .000%. I won’t even get started on the vertical/horizontal issue.
And time is short! I leave Thursday to go see GARBAGE at the Tabernacle on Thursday, and from there I go straight to the beach with the ladies from my Sunday School class. (I know - it’s kind of living at both extremes, isn’t it??) That means that I have to come up with four different, developed, horizontal pictures of Porter and me in the next 30 hours.
The minute the boys got home from school I grabbed Porter and we went outside and huddled together in the azalea bushes and made ugly faces at the camera while Finn took one (horizontal) picture. Then Porter got hungry and went inside for a snack.
I went to Target today and bought everyone new bathing suits, so Porter wants to do a swimsuit shot next. Given the theme of the next picture, I believe I’ll have me a shower and shave my armpits in preparation for the continuation of our Mother’s Day photo session. Stay tuned….
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October 20th, 2005 at 1:53 pm, yvonne Says:
OMG - I am SOOOO taking multiple pictures this weekend with each child separately. I think it will drive them nuts but it is important to be prepared for these requests