Room mother power

[Anonymous]

Weird. At our (private) school there is a lot of parent interest in volunteering, but it is set up so that it is truly FCFS and the room parents do not have any say in selection. An email is sent out with a link to a Signup Genius or a Google Spreadsheet and that’s that. And I haven’t seen any evidence of pre-seeding in the ones where I saw the email right away and clicked.

[Anonymous]

EVEN if people are falling over themselves trying to get involved (that won't last as your kids get older, believe me), it STILL doesn't mean they're sucking up to you.

You really need to reframe your thinking and correct this worldview, before you pass this on to your kids. It's unhealthy.

Dear Lord. It's all about you all the time, isn't it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I threw my name in the hat to be my youngest's room parent and randomly got picked...ok great! Doing what needs to be done and put out a call for volunteers to run the various holiday parties, first come first served.
These women, some of whom have completely ignored me for YEARS, are now kissing my ring and acting like we are besties because they want me to pick them for their desired holiday. The texts I have been receiving are unbelievable. I read them to my husband and he was dying. "The power must be intoxicating."
I don't like this feeling at all! If you didn't talk to me when I was a nobody then we're not friends. Any similar stories?

None of my kids' schools have ever had a designated room parent (public school). Teachers/admin ask for volunteers when needed. Can someone explain what this role is?

At my kids’ school it is really just planning the parties and sometimes other special events (working as a point person between teacher and parents). Usually the teacher gave me quite specific direction about these events and as room parent I sent out an email for volunteers, supply or monetary donations, etc. Also handled the class gift. That was about it.

[Anonymous]

I don’t wanna tear you

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Weird. At our (private) school there is a lot of parent interest in volunteering, but it is set up so that it is truly FCFS and the room parents do not have any say in selection. An email is sent out with a link to a Signup Genius or a Google Spreadsheet and that’s that. And I haven’t seen any evidence of pre-seeding in the ones where I saw the email right away and clicked.

As room parent I sent out the signup genius but it was sent to all parents and first come, first served. The school/teacher would not have put up with behavior that excluded anyone- nor should they. Parents also arranged volunteer hours privately with the teacher if they and the teacher wanted this.

[Anonymous]

Keep in mind you need to do what's best for the children, the classroom. Not waste time and effort on playing games with grown women.

[Anonymous]

This is the most bizarre thread I've ever read. When I was room parent, I'd set up a sign up genius for volunteer events, and if all the slots were filled, then I'd tell people to come anyway because more often than not, we could always use extra hands, because someone would inevitably drop out or have to cancel.

There was absolutely no ring kissing. Being room parent at our school doesn't come with a ring in any respect.

[Anonymous]

Sounds fake... never got any help.

[Anonymous]

I was a room parent last year (public school) and did not experience anything like this in the slightest. (And this was at a school with a highly involved and active parent community.) The ONLY - truly the only -- messages I received from other parents the whole year were to ask if they had already contributed or not to the class gift fund because they couldn't remember if they'd sent the $$. I received several messages like that.

I sent out the party and other volunteer opportunity signups and it was simply FCFS with no repeats.

This was for 4th grade -- maybe in younger grades parents are more eager, though, to get in the classroom. ???

[Anonymous]

Troll. If not troll, then wow, get help.

[Anonymous]

Nope. When I was PA president, I swear people avoided me on purpose out of fear I'd ask them to help with something.

[Anonymous]

NP here. I like that the teacher picked someone at random.

[Anonymous]

I was one of 3 room parents for 4th grade at a private school. The other 2 did almost nothing after our initial meeting, but they let me know they’d been room parents since kindergarten. I sent all the emails (having to sign our 3 names) and organized the 3 parties. Never again.

[Anonymous]

It's pretty obvious the OP is so insecure and socially inept that she's mistaking friendly requests for ring-kissing.

Does not bode well for her parenting. Let's hope the husband is more aware

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This has got to depend on the grade. I was room parent in 4th and parents were already checked out at that point. None of us wanted to be room parent in 5th again. I can see how people would be very enthusiastic in K or 1st.

This is how it was at our old public (at least). Through 2nd the competition to volunteer at parties definitely existed. After that? Nothing. It was like pulling teeth to get adequate volunteers. By 6th the teachers just asked us to donate supplies and did the rest themselves because getting volunteers was too much work and people wanted to be the Venmo mom at most.

At our new private it seems to be pretty similar. People will volunteer in the lower grades, but forget it for the older kids.