Maybe I shouldn’t put this in writing, but as parents, we’ve got some work to do.

I remember when we first talked about finding a school for Zoe and how involved I thought I’d be with that school – I mean, I’ve got skills. I’ve volunteered before. I like (and work with) LOTS of people. And I’m committed to helping our child get a great education – heck, I’ve got an education degree!

Sure, we had the normal reservations about integrating with other parents. You’ve seen them out in the world with their kids, at restaurants, in elevators, at the grocery store: parents are crazy. So finding ones that share your values and parenting style is certainly not easy. Not to mention finding a PAIR of them, both of whom you like (still working on this).

Anyway, this post is about a recital that almost happened. As you can guess from the first line above, we’ve missed a lot of Parent Association meetings. They’re either at 10 am on a Friday (we work) or on a Wednesday evening, and you can’t bring your kid (we have no local support). So we rely on the flurry of emails and random flyers that show up in Zoe’s bag or cubby or lunchbox.

Last Monday one showed up that said her “dance class” would be holding a recital, THAT AFTERNOON at 3:30. I’m generally on calls all day, but as luck would have it, my 3 pm canceled and off we headed to the school. We arrived to a group of 8 other parents crowded around the classroom, who greeted us with news that the school had messed up and there was no recital… Oops?

We were not deterred. As the 10 of us hovered outside (one father literally tapping his finger on the small pane of glass in the door), the school assistant showed up to tell us as a group how they’d messed up. We all smiled and nodded, but didn’t show signs of leaving, so she went into the classroom to ask if the teacher would let us watch “something”.

And she did. The fine lady from Creation Station “whipped up” a little something for us parents. And wow, it was something.

If you pay close attention, you’ll see some bad parenting at work. Our kid is shoeless without a lick of dance gear on her cute little body (we had no idea you were supposed to send those things). Our kid does maybe one (?) thing the teacher says – oh, and she tries to hang on to (unsuccessfully) then steals the spotlight from her friend Hazel Basil.

I can’t say I believe that an ACTUAL recital would have been much different. But all the same, I smiled through the whole thing ;)

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