Why are some parents so clueless?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I try my best but I have been known to miss an important detail in an email, forgotten something, arrived late. Apologies!

I try but can't be perfect and you don't see in this one mistake the 95 percent of the time that I do a great job and feel like Super Organized Mom.

This. Chill out OP. I get that you’re putting in time to make sure parents are informed, but sometimes things get missed because people are dealing with work/family issues or just plain forget.

[Anonymous]

Because there are so many other important things going on in people’s lives. Yes, start and stop times and gear like a swimsuit and proper footwear but if you’re sending instructions about anything else, you’re making problems.

[Anonymous]

Love the posts from self-important parents complaining about writing styles, length of email, frequency, timing, etc. You must be the parent that shows up when school is closed for conferences, or better yet, failed to schedule one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Love the posts from self-important parents complaining about writing styles, length of email, frequency, timing, etc. You must be the parent that shows up when school is closed for conferences, or better yet, failed to schedule one.

I don’t think that people are complaining, just offering the explanations OP asked for.

Emails are too long and too infrequent.

If you want people to show up to your event with the proper gear, then you need to send out an email long ahead of time with the schedule for the season and the year and a list of gear needed. That way people can clear schedules and purchase gear. Then send one again a week or so before the event with a reminder of the date and time along with information about whatever is needed. And in the second email, the most important information should be in the subject line.

Subject: Halloween Party this Thursday 1:45

Email: All parents are invited to join us at the Halloween party this Thursday.
Please enter through the front doors and sign in at the desk. After signing in, parents are asked to walk down to the gym for a schoolwide parade before heading back to the classrooms.

PLEASE PARK ON FORT STREET. The parking lot is often full for this event, and our neighbors on Fort street have agreed to let us use their street for additional parking.


I am looking forward to seeing you,
PTA mom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are probably too long and wordy. It is too difficult to find important information in giant block paragraphs.

I probably saw it came in and became distracted by something more important.

Do you send them out all at the same time? Sunday afternoons or first thing in the morning on Tuesdays when I'm not already slammed with other things (or people..) works best.

Wait... so I'm running your kids' Girl Scout troop, while also working full time and helping with my son's soccer team, and you want me to time my emails so they are convenient for you? No. I will be sending out the emails at the time when *I* am not already slammed with other things.
So sorry I can't bend my equally busy and distracted life to meet your schedule.

(And this thread has made me SO thankful for the awesome parents that have kids in my troop in real life, who are nothing but appreciative and helpful... even when we're all flaky about things now and then...)

[Anonymous]

yeah, I'm kind of with you, 9:04. I try to keep emails short and I try to send them in a timely manner to make sure people have time to see them, but a person flat-out not reading them (or merely skimming a 5-line email with important information) is not my problem/fault.

Some parents are just disorganized. Some parents just don't pay attention to communications. And they're generally the same parents who don't volunteer to help out with any team or activity, but expect other people to do it. (last year I was heavily involved with 4 out of 4 of my kid's volunteer-led extra-curriculars and found myself getting super annoyed with people who thought that their $80 participation fee bought them the right to be a pain in the ass, while never helping. Ever.)

[Anonymous]

I am a coach for a high school athletic team. Somehow I get a bunch of teenage boys to show up on time and with the proper equipment with no exceptions and only rare communication with their parents.

Figure it out, OP. You are all adults. Either what you are saying you want really isn’t that important to you, or you are not communicating effectively with the people you are supposed to be leading.

[Anonymous]

The same reason my undergrads don't read the syllabus!

[Anonymous]

I'm training my kids to be self sufficient when they leave the nest. If they have been given instruction to return a sign form, I expect them to present it to me. If they are expected to return money, or have uniforms or EC return I expect them to fill out the forms for my signature. If they forget and cannot join an activity or sport because of their irresponsibilities, that is lesson learn for the next time. If you didn't wash your uniform, you're going to have to be smelly and deal. If you don't turn in homework etc etc... I'm not going to live forever and my kids will have to figure this out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I try my best but I have been known to miss an important detail in an email, forgotten something, arrived late. Apologies!

I try but can't be perfect and you don't see in this one mistake the 95 percent of the time that I do a great job and feel like Super Organized Mom.

This. Chill out OP. I get that you’re putting in time to make sure parents are informed, but sometimes things get missed because people are dealing with work/family issues or just plain forget.

+1,000 I have no clue how people like OP can expect working parents of more than one child to stay on top of every single ridiculous request from schools and parents organizing things. It's too much! All the class parties and events and snack day and so on and so on. I am very organized with a weekly white board and a monthly calendar plus a notebook organizing all my kids' school activities etc but I still miss stuff because the demands are just out of control. Why does sports need to have a snack, for example? Bring your own freaking snack for your kid if you let your kids snack all the time. But don't make other busy moms sign up to bring snacks, especially when we don't let our kids stuff their face with garbage just because they ran around on a field for an hour. I have 10 given sign up genius' at any given time that I have to manage, let alone the rest of my family's life and my career. So step down, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I try my best but I have been known to miss an important detail in an email, forgotten something, arrived late. Apologies!

I try but can't be perfect and you don't see in this one mistake the 95 percent of the time that I do a great job and feel like Super Organized Mom.

This. Chill out OP. I get that you’re putting in time to make sure parents are informed, but sometimes things get missed because people are dealing with work/family issues or just plain forget.

+1,000 I have no clue how people like OP can expect working parents of more than one child to stay on top of every single ridiculous request from schools and parents organizing things. It's too much! All the class parties and events and snack day and so on and so on. I am very organized with a weekly white board and a monthly calendar plus a notebook organizing all my kids' school activities etc but I still miss stuff because the demands are just out of control. Why does sports need to have a snack, for example? Bring your own freaking snack for your kid if you let your kids snack all the time. But don't make other busy moms sign up to bring snacks, especially when we don't let our kids stuff their face with garbage just because they ran around on a field for an hour. I have 10 given sign up genius' at any given time that I have to manage, let alone the rest of my family's life and my career. So step down, OP.

Or spirit week?
I am supposed to find this buried in the school newsletter, then remember to send my kid in with a hat a week from next Tuesday.
If you want my kid in a hat, send an email Monday afternoon that says HAT DAY Tomorrow .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Love the posts from self-important parents complaining about writing styles, length of email, frequency, timing, etc. You must be the parent that shows up when school is closed for conferences, or better yet, failed to schedule one.

90% of my job is making decisions about my org's writing style, length of emails and other content, frequency, timing, style, formatting, etc. People like me get paid for this because it's a legitimate need. If you do it wrong, people don't read your stuff!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I try my best but I have been known to miss an important detail in an email, forgotten something, arrived late. Apologies!

I try but can't be perfect and you don't see in this one mistake the 95 percent of the time that I do a great job and feel like Super Organized Mom.

This. Chill out OP. I get that you’re putting in time to make sure parents are informed, but sometimes things get missed because people are dealing with work/family issues or just plain forget.

+1,000 I have no clue how people like OP can expect working parents of more than one child to stay on top of every single ridiculous request from schools and parents organizing things. It's too much! All the class parties and events and snack day and so on and so on. I am very organized with a weekly white board and a monthly calendar plus a notebook organizing all my kids' school activities etc but I still miss stuff because the demands are just out of control. Why does sports need to have a snack, for example? Bring your own freaking snack for your kid if you let your kids snack all the time. But don't make other busy moms sign up to bring snacks, especially when we don't let our kids stuff their face with garbage just because they ran around on a field for an hour. I have 10 given sign up genius' at any given time that I have to manage, let alone the rest of my family's life and my career. So step down, OP.

Or spirit week?
I am supposed to find this buried in the school newsletter, then remember to send my kid in with a hat a week from next Tuesday.
If you want my kid in a hat, send an email Monday afternoon that says HAT DAY Tomorrow .

You people are hilariously unable to be adults. If you got the email Monday afternoon you would 100% be complaining that you don't have a suitable hat and ONE day is not enough notice to go procure one.

In this thread: Send the email very early so I can clear my schedule. Also in this thread: Send the email the day before and no earlier so I don't have to remember anything!

How hard is it to put it on the calendar when you get the email? I'll give you a clue: not hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because you don't have to pass a test to become a parent. See: the Spears girls, Snooki and JWow, etc.

This is so classist and rude of you. Snooki and JWoww have shown nothing that indicates they are not loving and involved moms. JWoww has become a huge advocate for her son who has autism and speaks often about the challenges. It’s really, really gross that because they were on MTV 10 years ago when they were 20 and being regular 20 year olds you just assume they are crappy moms who shouldn’t have kids.

Ok then lets try this, instead of celebrities who at least have money to hire people to tend to their children, lets talk about the 100's children a month who show up in ER's from dumb crap due to parents not having the "time" to tend to foolish things. Saw a 14yr walking with ragging pneumonia that a neighbor brought her into the ER to been seen cause parents hadn't noticed cough, fever and fatigue. She had an O2 sat of 74%. That parent should have had some schooling and a license before they were allowed to parent. How about the parent who home remedies a 3rd degree burn with aloe vera and starts a ragging infection of Pseudomonas on her 7yr old. Is that classiest? Why is it you get a home inspection and have to fill out reams of paper to adopt a puppy but any fool with a reproductive system can pop out a baby with no question. There are a lot of hurt people walking around this planet because they were hurt by someone else, a lot of times it was the parent or the neglect of the parent that caused the hurt, and those people are going to hurt others and have more babies and it just goes on and on and on. Where does it stop? How many children have to be abused because you think it is classiest to actual make people go through some process before having children.

[Anonymous]

I run a summer camp. I clearly state at least 3-4 times in the info email to send a filled water bottle. At least 10% of the kids show up with none. At least half of the stuff is unlabeled despite asking parents to label everything and then parents flip out about a missing food container or sweatshirt and make sure to tell us how expensive that water bottle was, but when we find them, of course they're unlabeled. Don't get me started on kids bringing nuts when we make it clear camp is nut free. People don't read. And then complain we didn't give them enough info.