A parenting editor's parenting fail

We were running a little behind getting out the door this morning. Again.

My youngest started Montessori school in September and we still haven't quite got the hang of getting two young children to two different schools by 8:45. Very often we're just getting to the cloakroom door of Alister's new school at the last minute. Sometimes there's a handful of other moms and dads standing there clutching coffees and saying goodbyes. I'm hopeful that at least some of them have been missing the "Montessori at home" workshops and are behind on their readings, too.

But this morning I was the only parent standing at the front door puzzling over a fluorescent green sign that said "Reminder: There is no school tomorrow. It's a PA day."

Huh? They can't mean Saturday, can they?

Nope.

No school TODAY. As in right now.

The office staff buzzed me and said, "But it's in the calendar and the sign's been on the door all week."

I must have missed it Tuesday when I was last there. I just KNEW I was going to flunk out of Montessori school.

It's just this sort of thing for which they pay me the medium-sized bucks to run a parenting website. I am clearly SUCH an expert.

The truth is, I never like to miss an opportunity to point out that my decade on the parenting beat has done little to make me a superior parent. Sure, it makes me speedy at finding resources and gives me lots of other people's good ideas to steal. But it doesn't equip me with an endless reserve of patience when I'm trying to get my kids into snowpants. Or any extra memory space for Scholastic book orders and, apparently, PA days! (Clearly I need to program those with several blinky reminders into both my Outlook and Google calendars.)

So when you've gone tearing out of the office to find that you're a month early for your kids' dentist appointment or failed to send Christmas cards, think of me and know I'm raising a cup of something caffeinated to you.

And in case you're wondering, I may have failed to notice a PA day, but I do have the phone numbers of several neighbourhood nannies in my BlackBerry. As we peeled through the neighbourhood to drop him off with the nanny of twin four-year-olds, his best little buddies ("I LOVE dem!"), Alister was pretty pleased. Only then did he mention, "Yes, Mark said we don't have school today and we are SO excited!"

Comments

[JR Jake]

My sympathies. The beauty of a young family is that time flies, moments and planning can't be captured quick enough. Don't bother quick reflexes don't help. Everybody is entitled to make a few mistakes, and I believe young parents have a higher quota; at least in my eyes.

Raising a child does not come with a handbook so many times it is process of elimination, trial by error, and sometimes scratch and sniff. I enjoy your columns and your honesty. Have a wonderful weekend with your family.

[Julie the Alkaline Sister]

Oh my word, I'm right there with you. Did the same thing one year at our Montessori school with my then 5 year old son. Ooops, hope no one was looking as we stood there in a daze. I then raced to my sisters day care and begged so I could race even faster to open my retail store on time. Some days, hey! But I wouldn't trade it all in for anything and I bet you wouldn't either! The great thing is that us moms are so resourceful, we always figure it out, even when we are in a bind, don't we? And those blackberries and iPhones can sure come in handy!

[Brandie Weikle]

Thanks for relating, friends! If we can't mine our failings for self-deprecating humour, what can we do? We can't be on top of everything!

[Sheryl @ Little Snowflakes]

Thanks for sharing this story...I think it's great when we as moms don't pretend that things are "perfect" all the time and that we always have things under control. Parenting is hard, time consuming work and it's no surprise that things like PD days get forgotten now and then!! We've all been there!