5.19.2009

Crisis Averted- Mom saves the day

Dear Emily's preschool teacher,

You and I have not exactly seen eye to eye from the beginning of this school year. Your ability to communicate the most basic information about what is going on in your classroom to parents just flat out sucks.

For example one week's notice of an upcoming field trip and the need for parent volunteers is not even close to sufficient. You change your daily board less than once every two weeks yet when you do change it we are supposed to know immediately.

I would like to thank you for the the opportunity today to show my daughter just how amazing of a mom I am (even though it is because of your lack of communication that we had this issue to begin with). Apparently you changed your daily board YESTERDAY for the first time in a month to notify parents that TODAY was show and tell for the first time in three months.

Advanced notice would not have been imperative had you for once had any sort of system to the dates you randomly choose for show and tell. Heaven forbid we try and set a schedule that parents can count on such as every other Friday or the first Tuesday of the month. No instead we get one day's notice that we are going to have show and tell when ever it suits your mood.

So this morning when we walk in and two kids in the class have their show and tell toys (cause it would be totally implausible that we make show and tell relevant to the lesson of the week because we rarely have a lesson that is actually followed through) ready to show off to their fellow class while several other students are in tears as their parents try and figure out if they have enough time to run home and grab something to appease the tender hearts that are of this age.

Of course show and tell is a big deal to 4 year olds. It is the one chance that they get to bring in their absolute favorite things in and show them to their classmates. If for no other reason not being left out is a super sensitive issue to this age.

So being the super mom that I am I took my red faced, tear streaked child (thank you for that) back out to the car as my mind raced with possible solutions. Lucky for you the trunk and back seat of my car is never fully clean and usually has an array of random toys left behind. Although not ideal the day was saved by a fun pair of sunglasses, sun hat from last summer, and a fun book from the library about the beach we had recently checked out.

On behalf of the parents in your classroom and the PTA (you know the group that pays for the teacher's lunches on in-service days and makes it possible to purchase the extra supplies that makes your life easier and makes you look good) I would appreciate it if over this summer you developed a better system on decided what days are going to be show and tell days and on communicating with the parents what our hard earned cash is paying for when it comes to spending the day in the classroom with you.

Sincerely,

Emily's mom (aka Momma Incredible)

4 comments:

LegalMist said...

Kudos to you for saving the day for your kid! I'll nominate you for mom of the year, as soon as I find that form... (or maybe my kid's teacher forgot to send it home? haha)

Does this teacher have kids? I have often found that the ones who have kids "get it" about needing to notify parents about class events, and the ones who don't have kids just don't "get it." So maybe she's just child-free and clue-free.

Or maybe she's just disorganized and not that bright.

Gotta be one of those! :)

Autumn said...

Amen honey! I stood up for myself today too, though due to the fact that it was at my job I had to be WAY more discrete. I LOVE the fact that you wrote her a letter on here, I would have LOVED to do that (but again on the off chance that someone from my job is actually reading my blog I couldn't.)

I agree with LegalMist (as usual lol) kudos to you for saving the day!

Adriana said...

LegalMist- I totally agree...teachers that have/had kids do get it. I can always tell by the number/types of calls I get at work as to whether or not the teacher is a mom. LOL

Anonymous said...

I love this letter. You crack me up, totally. And of course you saved the day...it never ceases to amaze me what a "supermom" you are! You go girl!