I chaperoned a first grade field trip to the Houston Museum of Natural Science on Wednesday. We visited the butterfly center, since the kids are studying all sorts of bugs (Darkling beetles anyone?) and are about to embark on butterflies.
Field trips are sometimes tricky for me. In theory, I intended my reduced schedule at work to enable me not only to pick up the kids from school, but also to do things like chaperone field trips. In reality, though, the practice of law isn't really like that. Sometimes you have plenty of time to get away, and sometimes you don't. Right now, I'm not really even that busy. But, there was the possibility of something coming up on Wednesday that would require me to be at work.
So I didn't mention the field trip at all. I thought I would wait for them to ask if I was going. I was hoping that they wouldn't think of it for awhile, and that by the time they asked I would know my schedule a little bit better. And that my schedule would be clear, so they wouldn't be disappointed.
But here's the thing. They never asked. They talked about the field trip, sure. But they never asked if I would go.
Last year in kindergarten, it was a travesty if I couldn't attend a field trip or some other event at school. I attended the vast majority of them, mind you, but if I missed a single one there was hell to pay. It always made me wonder if the parents who have to work 8 to 5 and can never attend a school event got as much grief as I was getting.
I knew that eventually, they wouldn't care. At some point they won't even want us around. But I'm not really clear on when that milestone of not wanting your parents around actually occurs.
Wednesday morning, they still hadn't asked whether I was going to go on the field trip. I brought it up and said I was going. They briefly said, "You are?!" and that was it. I wasn't sure if we had reached that milestone yet.
I showed up at the museum and saw Joe's class first. He immediately took my hand and held it. Later, when I would come back to his class from hanging out with Charlie's class (I have to do a lot of running back and forth at these types of things), he would spot me from afar and wave his hand high to make sure I could find him. For Charlie's part, he held my hand, and even my entire arm, the entire tour. I'm pretty sure he gave me over ten kisses, some of which were on the lips.
So as it turns out, we haven't reached that milestone. Not quite yet. Whew.
Field trips are sometimes tricky for me. In theory, I intended my reduced schedule at work to enable me not only to pick up the kids from school, but also to do things like chaperone field trips. In reality, though, the practice of law isn't really like that. Sometimes you have plenty of time to get away, and sometimes you don't. Right now, I'm not really even that busy. But, there was the possibility of something coming up on Wednesday that would require me to be at work.
So I didn't mention the field trip at all. I thought I would wait for them to ask if I was going. I was hoping that they wouldn't think of it for awhile, and that by the time they asked I would know my schedule a little bit better. And that my schedule would be clear, so they wouldn't be disappointed.
But here's the thing. They never asked. They talked about the field trip, sure. But they never asked if I would go.
Last year in kindergarten, it was a travesty if I couldn't attend a field trip or some other event at school. I attended the vast majority of them, mind you, but if I missed a single one there was hell to pay. It always made me wonder if the parents who have to work 8 to 5 and can never attend a school event got as much grief as I was getting.
I knew that eventually, they wouldn't care. At some point they won't even want us around. But I'm not really clear on when that milestone of not wanting your parents around actually occurs.
Wednesday morning, they still hadn't asked whether I was going to go on the field trip. I brought it up and said I was going. They briefly said, "You are?!" and that was it. I wasn't sure if we had reached that milestone yet.
I showed up at the museum and saw Joe's class first. He immediately took my hand and held it. Later, when I would come back to his class from hanging out with Charlie's class (I have to do a lot of running back and forth at these types of things), he would spot me from afar and wave his hand high to make sure I could find him. For Charlie's part, he held my hand, and even my entire arm, the entire tour. I'm pretty sure he gave me over ten kisses, some of which were on the lips.
So as it turns out, we haven't reached that milestone. Not quite yet. Whew.
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