Class Mother

So on one of the many forms I filled out for Ironflower's preschool, I indicated that I would be willing to be a class mother. I thought I just said I would help when I could, but maybe my willingness to help at all qualified me for class motherhood.

Now, the whole idea of "class mother" ticks me off in the way "policeman" and "fireman" do - why assume a gender when there are perfectly viable options (police officer and firefighter, class PARENT)? But, this is Bergen County - where the men work long hours in the city and the women wear cute clothes to go to the park (yes, I'm totally generalizing, but I grew up here, I can). Only a handful of fathers even showed up for the back to school night, so it doesn't surprise me that all the class parents are women. It just surprises me that they ASSUME that's how it will be.

I went to the initial meeting with trepidation, not having gotten high-heeled sandals or a manicure recently. Fortunately, the women were more casually dressed this time (maybe because they knew there'd be no men there?) and everyone seemed nice enough. But my Goddess, what a lot of work there is. Fundraisers galore, field trips and class parties to plan. My co-class mom and I are having our parent meeting next week (yes, each class has to have its own meet and greet, as if back to school night and drop offs and pick ups were not enough).

This meeting will be to hit everyone up for money. Yeah, that'll be fun. Can't wait.

I'm sure part of my shock at the duties of class parents comes from my teaching experience in the 'hood. We never had official class parents, we barely had a PTA. And while I had many wonderful and helpful parents, none of them planned things for me. Or ran the fundraisers for me. Or bought me gifts. Or did half the stuff I'm going to have to do.