Partnership: the PTA

Interesting discussion this weekend during the quarterly meeting of gay and lesbian parents: several of us feel the need to overcompensate. Many of us have volunteered for the parent/teacher association and almost of all of us had volunteered to bake cupcakes, help wash up, clean up after painting classes, etc.

Why is it that we do this, I wonder? I can think of a myriad of answers, but I'd like to hear yours... And as a straight parent, reading this blog, do you feel just as duty-bound?

*gearing up to (wo)man the glühwein stand at the Christmas concert in a few weeks and prepping 450 bags for Sinterklaas in ten days* it's tough being a parent...

Parenting 101

Our child is perfect. At least, if you would believe our paediatrician's software and the curves used to measure her. Weight, perfect. Length, perfect. Ratio of both measurements: perfect. She is perfectly proportioned. Her ears seem to be working again and the rest of her pretty much is in working order, except for her schnozz, which has been oozing green slime incessantly. Poor munchkin's nasal passages are as usual blocked. So, nothing that I didn't know yet. As a mother, of course, I'm allowed to believe that she is perfection itself. The paed did remark that her language skills were pretty well developed but impressed on us the need to work on her English a little more. 'She would probably benefit from having a sibling'.

This was after this lunchtime's PTA meeting , where we were exposed to a 4-page observation fact kit of our daughter. When the teacher pulled out the little package, I turned a little green around the gills. She is only three, after all, and already she is being assessed for such things as maths and language skills (I kid thee not), motoric skills, participation, etc.

But such meetings have their uses too. Imagine two mums sitting there open-mouthed as we were told that our child has developed leadership skills (although somewhat extreme) over the past 5 months. Coming from pushover in September, that came as a bit of a surprise.
Enjoys playing with the boys. Another surprise. She always tells us that she plays with the girls.

So we perused the list, looking at all the green boxes next to the final objectives... and then there were the orange boxes (reminiscent of the US's threat levels). These overall point to a lack of concentration skills, and the teacher also remarked on the little one's constant demand for attention. A drama queen in the making, we were told. Also likes doing the same thing over and over again.
But we were immediately reassured: this is typical of a young, playful only child.

What did we learn today? Make another baby, or simply enjoy the playfulness of our munchkin.
I think we need to ponder this one a little longer.