{"id":3844,"date":"2014-10-10T12:48:49","date_gmt":"2014-10-10T18:48:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/?p=3844"},"modified":"2014-10-10T12:48:49","modified_gmt":"2014-10-10T18:48:49","slug":"parent-teacher-conferences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/?p=3844","title":{"rendered":"Parent Teacher Conferences"},"content":{"rendered":"

By a show of hands\u2026who cried at their latest parent\/teacher conference?\u00a0\u00a0Yes, that’s right: CRIED.\u00a0 A<\/span><\/span>nyone?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Anyone??<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Can you see ME?\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Can you see how my hand is raised high above my head?!?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s waving.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>WAVING!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Because, yes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>I cried at my daughter\u2019s most recent parent\/teacher conference.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>All three of them in fact.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Apparently,\u00a0I am a total embarrassment to Seventh Graders everywhere, including her.<\/span><\/p>\n

Picture it.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>We\u2019re all in the gymnasium together \u2013 us and about fifty other parents and students ranging from fifth through eighth grades.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The teachers are seated behind card tables pushed up along the walls.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Looking like they have pay-to-play chess games going on.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The parents and students sit or stand in some Disneyland waiting line where it\u2019s never quite clear how far, exactly, you are from the front.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>So you just shuffle your winding way\u00a0through until you arrive at the boarding area.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Once seated, we strap in and prepare for the ride.<\/span><\/p>\n

It all starts\u00a0with my daughter\u2019s Literature teacher.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>He goes\u00a0through this whole spiel about how she\u2019s a great student and he enjoys having her in his class.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>She has great answers and viewpoints.\u00a0 And he just wants us to know\u00a0<\/span><\/span>she\u2019s a very kind and kind-hearted young lady.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Insert waterworks here.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Then AND now.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>WHAAAAAAAAAA!<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Because it\u2019s really, really easy to be a LOT of things.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>But kind?\u00a0 Kind-HEARTED??<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>In seventh grade?! <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Especially with some of crap rats she goes to school with?!?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s really, really hard.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Nigh impossible.\u00a0 It would be for me at least.\u00a0\u00a0But she’s a waaaaay better person than I.\u00a0 And\u00a0<\/span>I\u2019m so proud of her for staying true to herself and not letting the crap rats unmake her.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>And thus I tear up.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

By the time we sit down with the Religion\/Social Studies teacher, Sissy is looking at me out of the corner of her eye like a frightened\u00a0colt whose barn is on fire.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>She keeps giving me these nervous sideways glances throughout the conversation.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>So many\u00a0 so that I become worried\u00a0the teacher will become worried that Sissy is worried I\u2019m gonna start shouting obscenities\u00a0(or some equally horrifying behavior – striptease perhaps?) in front of a\u00a0gymful of chess players.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>So instead of allowing the teacher to speculate about the reason for the nervous looks,\u00a0I address them\u00a0outright by telling the teacher that Sissy is worried I\u2019ll start crying.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Hey!<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Speaking of crying!!?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I then start CRYING\u00a0telling the teacher how I CRIED at\u00a0Back to School night when she mentioned\u00a0how \u2013 out of the 900+ Sundays we have to spend with our children from the day they\u2019re born until they leave for college \u2013 we only have 312 left with them by the time they\u2019re in Seventh Grade.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I swear to God, I hope you\u2019re crying now too.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Because otherwise you\u2019re an A$$.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And I\u2019m an A$$ AND the most embarrassing person in the WORLD, not just to Seventh Graders.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Crying at Back to School Night AND at Parent\/Teacher Conferences?!?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Good.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Lord.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On the way to the third-and-final teacher, Sissy thoroughly briefs me \u2013 via a rushed and furiously whispered diatribe\u00a0<\/span>\u2013 on what motherly behavior is acceptable at parent\/teacher conferences, and what is so, so embarrassing to her.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Oh.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Ok.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Got it, Sweetie.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The CRYING is\u2026how do you say in seventh grade speak?…the most mortifying thing that will ever happen to you in your entire life?!?<\/span>\u00a0 Good to know.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

But as we sit down at the Science\u00a0teacher\u2019s chess table, Hubby passes the box of tissues to Sissy.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Who passes them on to me, shaking\u00a0her head from side to side.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure WHOM the box of tissues were originally intended for, or WHY\u00a0they were sitting there in the first place, but they suit me just fine.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Hey, Boo!\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Did you bring your HOO?!?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Yep, sure did.\u00a0 But in my own defense, it’s good to know that my\u00a0wonderful girl,\u00a0who is so, so beautiful to me, is beautiful to others too.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By a show of hands\u2026who cried at their latest parent\/teacher conference?\u00a0\u00a0Yes, that’s right: CRIED.\u00a0 Anyone?\u00a0 Anyone??\u00a0 Can you see ME?\u00a0 Can you see how my hand is raised high above my head?!?\u00a0 It\u2019s waving.\u00a0 WAVING! Because, yes.\u00a0\u00a0I cried at my daughter\u2019s most recent parent\/teacher conference.\u00a0 All three of them in fact.\u00a0 Apparently,\u00a0I am a total […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[275],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3844"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3844"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3863,"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3844\/revisions\/3863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}