Well, it's been a while! 10 months to be exact... Jeezo! I've been slacking! As I was browsing on Facebook this afternoon I came across an article that had been posted. I was a little shocked at what I read...
The article was written by a mom who was having issues with the expectations her kids had about St. Patrick's Day. She is of the opinion that we as a society go way overboard with the simple holidays and her article begs for parents and teachers to let the simple ones just pass by without much effort.
The link can be found here to the full article which includes a few photos. :)
Now.... Before I start my rant, I can say I understand where this mom is coming from. I think we all can! As a parent we have all had "those" days where we are overwhelmed by what is happening in our children's lives. But here's where I think differently... As a society, things will evolve. The saying "When I was growing up" gets used so often and yet things are COMPLETELY different than when we were children.
On St. Patrick's Day, my sister-in-law and I had this very conversation. When we grew up we put on our green shirt, checked to see what color the milk was and went on with our day. If it happened to be a weekend and Dad felt like making pancakes, they were green. And that's about where the celebration ended at home. Did we feel left out? Were we shunned because the Leprechaun's didn't visit our house? Nope. That was the end.
I will admit, that the thought hadn't crossed my mind that Leprechaun's should visit my house until my Mom brought it up when Kaden was 2 or 3. We certainly didn't go overboard, but we picked up a few green things, some gold candy and set it out giving credit purely to the Leprechaun's. As he's gotten older, this is something that is a tradition in our home. Therefore it is expected. So WHAT?! He loves it, and as a parent I get absolute joy from getting to surprise him. So as a Parent, my stand is "Let other's do what they want without complaining because you don't live up to it." Possibly harsh, but I don't think I should be looked down upon for being a fun mom :)
Many of you might know that I am a preschool teacher. I have the privilege of spending my days with 4 and 5 year olds. This month we have been learning all about colors. Each day the kids have been wearing a certain color to school. Now I could pick out exactly which parents were going to boycott this before I even handed out the schedule. Whatever. But one day I overheard a dad telling his daughter (who was supposed to wear yellow and showed up in brown) that color day is stupid and don't worry about it. What dad didn't know is that his words meant NOTHING! All she knew is that she was the only child in the classroom without a stitch of yellow on.
My point is, regardless of how you grew up, how you feel about Leprechaun's or whatever else is going on, you need to do it for your children. I'm not saying run out and buy new, but if that girl would've had a yellow clip in her hair, it would've made her day!
I know I may go overboard with my feelings on making my kids happy, but I will NEVER let them be the ones sitting quietly because they didn't have the "standard" experience. Their heartache isn't worth it to me.
I would LOVE to hear your opinions on this issue... Please no arguing, we all have different opinions and this just happens to be mine :)
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Is the parent you speak of the "one" Dad of the "one" student that has major attitude?
ReplyDelete-Sara
Cute blog by the way. I just looked at this because we have had issues this week about this. My kids set the trap and get a prize every year and this year they wanted 3 green meals, a party with games and leprechaun desserts. As fun as that sounds, i had to put my fit down because i don't have time to plan it. well one of them threw a royal fit because the leprechaun only bought a small present and not chocolate gold. That's when I laid down the rule that magical creatures can choose to come if they want to and they can leave whatever they want to and you cannot expect anything, just be surprised and excited about what you get. That way if I have time to get ambitious I can and if not, they will still be happy. Doesn't bother me what other families do. I agree with you about the yellow shirt thing.
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