More Whinging...

With all the running around I’ve been doing today, you’d never know that my kids were out of town. I voluntarily got up at 7:30 this morning, and I won’t be in bed before midnight.

I did get a lot done today though. My day started off at Little Miss’ preschool to drop off raffle prizes to mom’s there who entered the Cinco de Mayo raffle at Mister Man’s school and to see how the Teacher Appreciation baskets turned out.

I made the photocopies for the gift card fundraiser and put them in backpacks at Mister Man’s school and made sure the therapists were paid. I got my groceries for dinner tonight – it’s Tuesday, so I cook for two other families. I even stopped by two car dealerships, but more on that another day. Plus, I wrote the PTO welcome letter and got that to the school, made lemon chicken kabobs and a Mideast pita salad for all of us then headed to volunteer at the elementary school’s rummage sale setup to volunteer hours so Mister Man’s preschool can share in the proceeds. Plus real running when I got home and an hour long conference call to talk about who’s calling which Cinco de Mayo winners. No wonder I’m pooped. And crabby!

So let me vent….

First, although I’ve essentially been strong-armed into taking on the PTO president at Mister Man’s preschool, apparently it’s a different story at the elementary school. There’s currently a coup going on, as one of the moms relished telling me. No one likes the PTO president and apparently she does a horrible job and blah blah blah people are refusing to participate this year. She runs the barbeque and uses her husband’s catering company and pays them $11.50 per person for burgers and hot dogs while this other woman set up a caterer to do chicken, burgers, brats and Italian beef for $6.25 per person before the event was taken away from her so the first woman can have it and let her husband do it. Man the stories this woman told. What’s wrong with these women? The whole thing is ludicrous. The PTO is about the kids and helping them, not who is king of the hill and has more power. But the cliques aren’t done. If this is what I have to look forward to when Mister Man starts kindergarten, I’m awfully disappointed.

Second, let’s go back to the plane ride from Houston. I realize that some may disagree with me on this one, but when rules are set in place for safety, follow them!

I’ll set the stage for you:

The plane is taking off from Houston, and it’s a pretty rough takeoff with lots of wind shear. We’re about 3 minutes into the flight, and we’re obviously still climbing.

A seven year old (or so) boy in the row behind me starts whining “Daaad” and kicking the seat in front of him (fortunately where his baby sister was sitting in her carseat). This continues for a minute or so before the dad tells the kid he can unbuckle his seatbelt. The kid does and runs to the back of the plane. Apparently, he has to go to the bathroom.

Immediately, over the loudspeaker comes the flight attendant, “The seatbelt sign is still illuminated, and it is not safe to be out of your seat. Please have everyone return to your seats immediately, and when you use the restroom, you must wear shoes.”

Yep, not only did the dad send the kid to the bathroom when the plane was a rockin’ but he went in bare feet! Ewwww! Quick, quick, can you name another one of my quirks?

Now, I get that when kids have to go, they frequently have to go. However, we had a rule in my house that you can’t go anywhere that we’ll be away from a bathroom until we had used the bathroom, even if it was only a drop. I use the same rule with Mister Man (and will with Little Miss – who is currently wearing Lil Swimmers as pull-ups, I’ve been told!), and knock on wood, it’s worked great to date.

At seven years of age, the child (and the parents) should have known better in my book. Not only are they putting their child’s safety at risk, but what about the other passengers on the plane? If the plane rocks hard enough (and it was rocking) as the child is walking up or down the aisle, he can easily whip into someone and hurt them and him.

The friend flying with me had a different take entirely. She has an eight year old daughter and agrees that by seven he should have more bodily control or awareness. However, she felt the flight attendant was completely out of line. “When a kid has to go, he has to go. It’s better than going in the seat. (To me, that misses the point, and I agree that going in the seat is not exactly ideal.) Besides, there’s no rule that you have to wear shoes in the bathroom. There was no reason for the flight attendant to call out that kid and embarrass his family.”

We obviously are on different sides on this one, and it has me wondering if I’m being too crabby and old lady-ish. Maybe I should book myself a massage to relax. Your thoughts?