When people say they 'hate the PTA', I think how childish you are. I mean, seriously. Find a hobby or something to truly 'hate' on. Or join and be a changemaker.

Noone is making you do anything or making you feel obligated or pressured. This sounds like a 'you' issue and not a PTA issue.

Anonymous wrote:When too much is asked, the many families that don't participate feel like outliners. Opposite of building school spirit. Opposite of feeling good about school, for most. The PTA needs to always have in mind that what they suggest is not what an ordinary family considers reasonable.

Again, this is not done by the PTA (for the most part). And how is wearing your PJs asking too much? It's literally saving time as they don't need to get dressed in the morning. As a former PTA president, you have NO IDEA the time and effort some of these parents put into the school. But sorry that picking out a colored T-shirt is too much effort for you.

When too much is asked, the many families that don't participate feel like outliners. Opposite of building school spirit. Opposite of feeling good about school, for most. The PTA needs to always have in mind that what they suggest is not what an ordinary family considers reasonable.

Anonymous wrote:
They do nothing useful.

This week is celebrate week and the kids are supposed to wear specific outfits.

It creates more work for the parents and does not make it more fun for the kids

Today is Match Your Friends day and DD is having a total meltdown over what outfit to wear.

I hate the PTA.

My kids wear uniforms. I wish they didn't, because I think the cons outweight the cons.
But the idea of "match your friends" is the actual good part of a uniform - seems like it was created to encourage cliques and non-belonging and making kids feel outsiders because of socioeconomic status.

Twin Day was a better option than dress as your favorite character day. It is super easy for most kids to wear a school shirt - instant twins with 1/2 the school!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Match your friend day is the WORST.

At our school, the whole grade selected an outfit they all could wear so no one was left out.

At our school they did the whole grade color AND twin day. Liked the former, not the latter.

Anonymous wrote:I would have respect for the PTA if (T) Teachers and (A) Administrators truly were involved in decisions. They need to say, "no" to excessive silliness.

A is Association FYI

Overall, I don't mind. Only a small portion of the student population participates in spirit week. Some of the spirit week clothing themes are well meaning but difficult to implement - i.e., wear the gear from your favorite HBCU.

Anonymous wrote:Match your friend day is the WORST.

At our school, the whole grade selected an outfit they all could wear so no one was left out.

Love our PTA that does a lot of useful and fun things.

Agree that match your friends day is the total worst.
We basically ignore spirit days except PJ day which everyone loves. My sense is that they get very low participation on other spirit days but it gives the SGA something to do as they are otherwise a total non-entity. Can anyone name a single think that the ES SGA does, other than campaign for office and announce spirit days? I have 10 years at a pretty community spirited ES and I cannot.

Anonymous wrote:I would have respect for the PTA if (T) Teachers and (A) Administrators truly were involved in decisions. They need to say, "no" to excessive silliness.

Trust me, your PTA probably wishes for more teacher and administration involvement too. It's hard to get them engaged at some schools. But for them, it's additional time working that they don't get paid to do so their motivation for being involved is different than a parent's motivation.

No PJs (agree they are for the bedroom not classroom) and No Twin Day (agree that it's too socially stressful)!

I don't mind wear a certain color day. The other themes are kind of annoying, but can be fun.

We are now at a private school that doesn't do much of this, but there are occasional dress out of uniform days to match certain themes. It's rare, and advertised in advance, so not a burden.

Say this IS an actual PTA decision. Why don't you join the PTA and get your say in this? You're missing the whole "P" thing.

Anonymous wrote:
They do nothing useful.

This week is celebrate week and the kids are supposed to wear specific outfits.

It creates more work for the parents and does not make it more fun for the kids

Today is Match Your Friends day and DD is having a total meltdown over what outfit to wear.

I hate the PTA.

Neither do you do anything useful, my dear.


You don't hate the PTA. You just hate parenting your child.

My kids never cared about the Spirit Week and would do certain theme days only if it was convenient. It is not a huge deal. Over the years, my involvement with PTA has waxed and waned but I am always very appreciative of what these volunteers do. You can choose your level of involvement. No one gets paid for doing PTA stuff so a PTA is only as good as the parent body. We all deserve the PTA we get.

My participation as a parent was limited to PTA donation and membership so that I could get the student directory and newsletter. I spent generously on the PTA bookfairs because my DC is an avid reader and I also liked to buy books for his teachers classroom library wishlist. I also donated food/drinks for the various staff appreciation events throughout the year. I prefer to give directly to teachers (Christmas gifts) and donate classroom and cleaning supplies twice a year to my kid's teachers. Do what appeals to you, BUT you are not owned anything by the volunteers of PTA. If you want to start some initiative, you are free to join the PTA and work on it.