I'm Not That Parent

I went to my son's 4th grade parent's night at the elementary school tonight (not to be confused with the 2nd grade parent's night I get to go to tomorrow night or the kindergarten parent's night I get to go to on Thursday).  It really is informative to hear the teachers share about what to expect for the school year, so honestly I'm not complaining (whining maybe).

I had a couple thoughts while sitting in my son's desk listening to the teacher along with all the other parents.

The first was, "Man, this desk is uncomfortable!  Aren't 4th graders bigger than this?  When do they get full-sized people chairs?  I'm not a big person and this desk is way too small for me."

Can you tell I was paying close attention to the teacher?

The second thought, or really question, came after the teacher said, "I really ask that if your child leaves their homework at home, you do NOT bring it up to school.  They are old enough now at 4th grade to be responsible for their own work and suffer the consequences of forgetting it."  So my alarmed question was, "WHAT?  Do parents actually do that?!!  And if now's the right time to stop bringing forgotten homework up to school, is it wrong that my oldest kid is in 4th grade and I've NEVER brought forgotten homework up to school before?  Am I a terrible mother?  Should I have done that for him as a 1st, 2nd and 3rd grader?  There has not been a lot of forgotten homework, but there has been some.  I have a chance to do something different with my younger kids, but taking forgotten homework up to school?  Nope, can't see myself ever doing that.  Sorry, kids!  But, someday you'll thank me for allowing you to learn early to manage your own stuff."

There was also a funny moment after I got home when my 9 year old asked, "What did my teacher say?" and I told him several things including the part about her not wanting parents to bring forgotten homework up to school for their kids when he had a look on his face that was like, "WHAT?  I didn't know some parents did that!"