A Parent’s Perspective- Part 1

We asked our parent-writers what is was that they “wished they’d known” when it came to sending their children to school.  Here are some words of wisdom from parent-writer John G. Warren.

Your child is eventually going to bring some critters home. Whether it's head lice, pink eye or the vast petri dish of viruses in our country...
...go ahead and let go of all obsessive compulsiveness and just accept it's going to happen. Don't be afraid to grab those children up on your lap, red eyes swollen shut with pink eye, and love them for what they are. Don’t make them feel like they're radioactive and they've done something wrong. I jumped off the anti-bacterial bandwagon a long time ago and have been happier ever since.  

Make sure your child understands that his cafeteria lunch account is for his/her use, not to buy ice cream sandwiches for the whole class.  It can be frustrating to get a letter sent home saying your child's account is empty after you just paid what you thought would last 6 months. Also, it’s socially hard enough to attend the grandparents luncheon - towering above all other diners while keeping balance in those small chairs - without the fear of being stopped at the checkout platform for insufficient funds.

If your kids are going to get involved with school sports -- and you know they will -- be prepared to volunteer for the concession stand. This rite of passage must be recognized by all parents, for your kids will blame your non-participation for their sitting on the bench.  Most importantly, make sure you know how to make change correctly for there will be no credit card machine. Nothing is more embarrassing than having a 6-year-old tell you how to count back his change due from a dollar as the line of thirsty kids begins to swell behind him. Usually they all come at once between games, and it will be chaos; so you need to keep your cool. Also, if you are real soft of heart, bring a couple of folded dollars with you, for you’ll have more than one big brown-eyed visitor with a quarter trying to buy a dollar snow cone. It can be more painful to deliver this news than it is to tell a huge corporate customer know the project is way over budget.