Tacy’s mom has got it goin’ on
My mother rarely volunteered at my school or in my extra-curricular activities. She volunteered in other capacities (such as…gulp…Junior League), but the room mother gig just wasn’t for her.
I didn’t mind. Other kids loved having their mothers chaperone field trips and plan class parties, and their mothers loved doing those things. Not me, and not my mother.
Tacy has asked me a few times about volunteering at her school. I’ve explained to her that in addition to my work schedule, I’ve got CJ and Oliver to consider. Bottom line: I’m not going to pay for a sitter so that I can tromp around a pumpkin patch. I have found a few ways to support her school though, including a really cool monthly teacher recognition program, and I’ll be happy to do more as CJ and Oliver get bigger.
But when Tacy’s teacher asked for parent volunteers to come into the classroom and speak about their work…well, I couldn’t help jumping at that chance. Talk about blogging? Get some publicity for PBN and CMP? Rant about the preponderance of misplaced apostrophes in society? Yes, please!
Of course, I asked Tacy first. “Do you want me to come speak to your class?” I inquired.
“YES!” she shrieked.
Well, alrighty then. Sign me up.
As I pulled up in front of the school yesterday, I started to get nervous. Sure, they’re only kids, but you never know what kids are going to do and say. Speaking to adults is different; they’re pretty easy to predict. But kids can be a tough crowd, especially when your own kid is part of the group, and it’s not like I could employ the typical public speaking nervousness abatement strategies. Picturing a bunch of first graders in their underwear is just wrong.
I needn’t have worried; as soon as I introduced myself, five hands shot up. “You have questions already?” I asked them incredulously.
No questions. They just wanted to tell me about all the people they knew named Julie – mothers, aunts, cousins, the waitress they had last night at Red Robin.
Hey, at least we could relate to one another right off the bat.
I told them about how I started blogging. How I went to the BlogHer conference in 2006 and met all of these other mommies (and daddies too) who had blogs too. How a few of us started talking about ways that we might work together.
“Because,” I explained, “even though lots of daddies go to work every day and make money, it’s usually the mommies who spend that money.”
Most of the kids nodded. “Yeah, my mommy bought me this sweater,” piped up one little girl.
“Exactly,” I agreed. “So at Cool Mom Picks, we write about all sorts of cool things that mommies can buy for their kids. Because we mommies are always thinking about what our kids might like to have.”
Tacy waved her hand and pulled at the sleeve of her Hanna Andersson top. I shook my head at her. “Actually, that’s one of the only things you have that I didn’t find at Cool Mom Picks,” I admitted.
“Then,” I continued, “at Parent Bloggers Network, we work with businesses who want bloggers to write about their products. Tacy gets to check out some pretty neat toys and books, but she also gets to try stuff that helps her learn, like DreamBox. It’s a computer program that teaches her about math.”
By that point, about half the kids were fidgeting, so I knew we needed to move on to a topic that interested them more. Like my name.
But another girl was waving her hand, so I called on her.
“If you’re…um…a writer…and…uh…an editor…why do you…um…why do other people…uh…have to edit what you write?” she asked.
“Now that is an excellent question!” I told her. “I’m really impressed with you.”
Even though I’m usually pretty good at checking my spelling and my punctuation, it always helps to have someone else take a look at what I’ve written. They might find something wrong that I didn’t see. Plus, even though I understand exactly what I’ve written, they might not understand it. So there might be a better way to write it,” I explained, “and that’s how my editors help me write better too.”
I looked up at the clock. “I know it’s about time for you to go to art, so we should probably end here. Thanks for letting me come in to talk to you.” I smiled at them, and Tacy grinned back at me.
As I rose, a little boy sitting in the front row waved his hand at me. I sat back down. “Yes?”
“My friend’s mom is Julie too,” he told me.
Sigh. Maybe next time I’ll just introduce myself as Tacy’s mom and teach them to sing Fountains of Wayne.
——————————
I’m so tired of hearing about the economy, and more specifically, the stimulus package. But after reading a piece in CNN Money, I realized that what I’m really tired of are the partisan sound bites. Want to make some sense of what’s going on, without the political distractions? Check out this week’s column at The Parental is Political.
February 10th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
(Ducking)
I was just joking to my friend and neighbor Julie that I don’t have room in my life for any more Julies and Julias. There’s the sitter, 4 friends, 2 co-workers, my midwife, my kid’s preschool classmate…
It takes a full minute to scroll past all the Julies and dial my husband Josh on my phone.
February 10th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
You can teach them “(S)tacy’s Mom” AND “Hey, Julie.”
mayberrys last blog post..Hmm. Maybe I jumped too soon.
February 10th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
That’s cool though, that you went to talk to her class. My kids still just think it’s cool to see their pictures on the computer.
Heathers last blog post..Random Thoughts #29
February 11th, 2009 at 8:00 am
The kid’s comment was more brilliant than most of the responses I get after explaining CMP and PBN. To adults.
Motherhood Uncensoreds last blog post..I don’t think I could have even staged this if I tried
February 12th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
I love this post! What a beautiful story.
Now go back and tell her we don’t edit you much at all.
Mom101s last blog post..Bad parenting report, week 189
February 12th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
I did the Great American teach In thing, too, at N’s school talking to the kids, as an editor of GMF, about how kids can help their families be more green. It went really well but the constant shooting up of hands for somewhat off topic stuff? Urrrggghhh is all I’m gonna say about that. But the kids wrote me these awesome thank you letters telling me what they liked best, what they learned and N was so proud… It was actually a pretty cool experience
Caffeinatrixs last blog post..The Unsung Hero of Last Weekend
February 13th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Damn, I am impressed that you managed to translate blogging to the kids. My mom still has no idea what the hell I do for work now. I mean, she didn’t understand when I was a “music and brain scientist” but at least she could tell people I worked at a hospital.
You will be held fully responsible for any and all of those kids who gets it going on Blogger within the next 5 years.
Boston Mamass last blog post..Dry Skin Care for Baby