Why can't parents follow simple directions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stop asking parents to do so much extra crap. It's out of control.

OP here. If you don’t have time to read the email, just don’t send in any photos at all. It’s completely optional.

What a moronic response to say you were “too busy and stressed” to read an email properly but not too busy and stressed to go sort though all of your kid’s photos since 2016 and upload 30+ of them. Lies. And I can see who is submitting all of the extra photos. It’s not the “we’re too busy” families - those people followed the rules or didn’t submit anything. It’s the moms who think little Jaxson is absolutely the most perfect child ever and can’t possibly be boiled down to just four photos like all the other kids.

I did send an updated email that if more than 4 photos are received, the first four will be selected and the rest removed. But it’s still a jerk move for those parents. Laziness, busyness, or incompetence are not excuses. You are free to opt out if you think it’s dumb.

[Anonymous]

Ha I hear you OP! I asked parents to have their child write their name in a thick marker on a white sheet of paper then send either the paper home with my daughter or to send me a picture of it for Teacher Appreciation Week. I got 4 who did it correctly, 4 sent photos of their child, 3 who did nothing and 1 who sent a photo of their last name embroidered on a sweater.

I also only volunteered to be room parent because no one else did lol. They all contributed financially towards the gifts so that's something I suppose.

[Anonymous]

You gave the parents homework?
What is a 5th grade promotion?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ha I hear you OP! I asked parents to have their child write their name in a thick marker on a white sheet of paper then send either the paper home with my daughter or to send me a picture of it for Teacher Appreciation Week. I got 4 who did it correctly, 4 sent photos of their child, 3 who did nothing and 1 who sent a photo of their last name embroidered on a sweater.

I also only volunteered to be room parent because no one else did lol. They all contributed financially towards the gifts so that's something I suppose.

guess what volunteers, teachers would rather you just collect that money and give them one big thank you check. No need for all the year long engineered busy work

[Anonymous]

Just pick the first 4 and tell people that is what you will be doing. Do not sort through them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stop asking parents to do so much extra crap. It's out of control.

+1000

[Anonymous]

I sent in about 30-40 pics for an 8th grade slide show at our parochial because 1) they gave no limit; 2) most pics were group shots of many kids together (Field Day, field trips, Girl Scout outings, fun run/5K, etc) so it was not like I was being self-aggrandizing sending pics of only my kid; and 3) the room
mothers kept sending reminders and reminders and reminders as if they were worried no one was replying and I have been the organizer of things in the past, and felt their panic as to how they would create a slide show with zero input from families.

[Anonymous]

I am hoping the “Gladys” and “oh honey you have a small life” posters are trolls. Otherwise they need to settle in for a lecture:

If you can’t do simple things like this (and do them well) you need to drastically change your lifestyle. Delegate to your spouse or grandparent or nanny, or one of you cut back hours so you have the bandwidth to handle school-related asks. There is no reason that a working couple can’t allocate 4 hours on a Sunday to get ahead of the week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I sent in about 30-40 pics for an 8th grade slide show at our parochial because 1) they gave no limit; 2) most pics were group shots of many kids together (Field Day, field trips, Girl Scout outings, fun run/5K, etc) so it was not like I was being self-aggrandizing sending pics of only my kid; and 3) the room
mothers kept sending reminders and reminders and reminders as if they were worried no one was replying and I have been the organizer of things in the past, and felt their panic as to how they would create a slide show with zero input from families.

This would be me. I have a bunch of group shots without my own kid.

But maybe they just read 3-4 as 34 and thought you pinpointed a really random number.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ha I hear you OP! I asked parents to have their child write their name in a thick marker on a white sheet of paper then send either the paper home with my daughter or to send me a picture of it for Teacher Appreciation Week. I got 4 who did it correctly, 4 sent photos of their child, 3 who did nothing and 1 who sent a photo of their last name embroidered on a sweater.

I also only volunteered to be room parent because no one else did lol. They all contributed financially towards the gifts so that's something I suppose.

A lot of people don't like Teacher Appreciation Week, PP, so I'm not surprised there was low compliance. I say this as someone who volunteered for years on the PTA board. Most teachers don't like it because parents send in crap gifts and baked goods right when a lot are trying to lose weight. Most parents don't want to be told to be grateful at a specific moment of the year, it kills their initiative. That thing should just be scrapped.


Truthfully, this is exhibit A for why OP and PP have parents that "can't read". It feels like an imposition to do all these things that are not directly related to a child's academic success. Parents work hard to make a living and raise their children, and a lot of the time schools throw way too much unimportant stuff at them, so much so that sometimes really critical information gets lost in the shuffle, such as half-days, exam dates, etc.

Dial it way down, and you'll get more interest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Because they are too busy to read the directions.

It's impressive that you only got 3 families who messed up!

It takes seconds to read a sentence that includes “maximum 4 pictures.” They’re not too busy to do that. They’re too self-important.

Oh honey. You may have a small life with nothing happening and time to devote to reading every last word, or you may have a preternatural superhuman focus, but believe me, it happens to nearly every parent at some point.

If you're checking emails on your phone while walking to pick up your kid, pushing the stroller and preventing the toddler from trailing his snack in every puddle and wondering whether you need to pop into the grocery store on the way home and composing a grocery list in your head, all you see on the small screen is "send blah-blah photos", and all of sudden your eye has read 30 instead of 3-4. Or you're scrolling through hundreds of emails at lunchtime (beg pardon, Zoom meeting with blow-hard for what passes as lunchtime, camera artistically avoiding the sloppy fast food you ordered because you're frenzied at work), trying to remember every directive for every last stupid email from the three schools plus one preschool your children go to, and you file away 40 instead of 3-4 photos, and don't check again because the day just gets crazier from there.

This is the life of many a parent I know.

Oh, honey. The odds are EXCELLENT that I have more kids than you do, and what you just wrote was a ridiculous pile of excuses.

Funny that you feel targeted and obliged to respond, then! Because I was culling from what I see around me. That is the lives of parents today. Since you're a self-aggrandizing model of hyper-productivity, your next task is to understand that most people just muddle through and can't multitask like you. And learn not to boast. It's not becoming.

[Anonymous]

For most of my parents, it is these non-academic things that are the only ones to get their attention. I only hear from some parents about these events- birthday parties, Halloween, field trips, picture days, and field day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am hoping the “Gladys” and “oh honey you have a small life” posters are trolls. Otherwise they need to settle in for a lecture:

If you can’t do simple things like this (and do them well) you need to drastically change your lifestyle. Delegate to your spouse or grandparent or nanny, or one of you cut back hours so you have the bandwidth to handle school-related asks. There is no reason that a working couple can’t allocate 4 hours on a Sunday to get ahead of the week.

^STFU.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I’m not complaining about lack of interest. If parents are too busy or not interested that’s fine. It’s optional. But if you are going to participate, learn to follow basic 1-2 step instructions. Your child is expected to that in Kindergarten. “I’m busy” is not an excuse for ignoring the instructions and participating your own way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish this was my biggest problem at work.

Agreed. Elementary promotion ceremonies are stupid anyway.

This. Too much time is spent on these in this area.