Today, Feburary 11th, is National African American Parent Involvement Day (NAAPID). So, since my ancestors are from Africa (well, if you go back far enough), I figured I’d better get involved in my son’s school day.
Actually, despite the event’s name, the day is open to parents of all ethnic persuasions and identifications, and there were plenty of other parents at Owen’s school today from different continents-of-origin.
First, I brought Owen to school and went in and had breakfast with him. We grabbed breakfast from the cafeteria, then headed over to his locker. His locker has four coat hooks in it, but Owen doesn’t use any of them; he just shoves his jacket, snowpants, and backpack in there. He also shoved my jacket in there and then complained that, for some reason, he couldn’t get his locker door to shut properly. We then went into his classroom where I sat and ate with him. I was a tad mortified to see I was the only parent, but Owen didn’t seem to care. Once the day began, the teacher and the students sang a “Good Morning” song (Owen didn’t sing – but he said that’s because he was busy eating), and then I took off for a couple of hours until lunch time.
At lunch, I again met up with Owen and again went to the cafeteria. I had a chick drumstick for the first time in about three years. Owen promptly called me out on it, but I explained that there were no other options. Actually, there were these wraps, but they had cold cuts in them, so that looked very unappatizing. I guess I could’ve nixed the chicken and just overloaded on the salad bar, but at the time the lunch lady dropped a drummy on my tray, I didn’t know there was a salad bar option. Speaking of salad bar, Owen’s salad consisted of the following three ingredients (and only the following three ingredients):
-Cherry tomatoes
-Diced tomatoes
-Ranch dressing
While eating, I asked Owen if he always sits at this same table with these same students. He shrugged like that was the dumbest question he’d heard all day. “No,” he answered, “I jsut sit whereever.” I’m glad to see he and his peers spice it up a bit – back in my day, all the kids sat at the same table every day – first grade through twelfth. I was also happy to see that there was a “sharing tray,” which is a place where you can set unopened food and drink to share with kids who forgot their money or lunch. I was more than happy to set my chocolate milk on that tray and I offered up a silent curse to my former elementary schools as I did so. Long story.
Anyway, after lunch, I went back to Owen’s classroom. Most of the kids’ parents were there, too, and we all played math games. First Owen and I played a game with fake money along with one of his classmates (whose mom hadn’t arrived yet). Then we played a second money game with the kid and his mom. He and his mom were very kind, and his mom explained that she had to run over to the Kindergarten class after this to go be with her other child, and that she also had two younger children at home. Wow. I was impressed with her ability to find time to come to her oldest’s class.
Then Owen and I played a number-guessing game by ourselves. And then it was time for the normal day to resume, so the other parents and I took off.
All in all, a good parent involvement day. Totally kicked ass over going to work today.