I anticipated a tight schedule getting my daughter to school today. After dropping her father off at the airport, I needed to return home before 12:35 PM. I successfully dropped her off at 12:32 PM, and I felt a sense of accomplishment.
For the next two hours, I busied myself tidying the house, enjoying the calm atmosphere, occasionally interrupted by the gentle coos of my baby. At 2:35 PM, my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number, so I let it go to voicemail. I find it somewhat enjoyable to let my phone ring—my ringtone is “Anastasia” by A Silent Film, and I often find myself dancing and singing with my little one while I clean.
Ten minutes later, the phone rang again. It was the same unfamiliar number. A sudden thought crossed my mind: could it be the school calling about my daughter feeling unwell? She had been a bit under the weather yesterday, but seemed to be doing fine today.
“Hello?”
“Hi, is this Emily?”
“Yes.”
“This is Karen from the Elementary School. Your daughter is here, waiting to be picked up. Today is a common day, and school dismissed at 2:15 PM.”
My heart sank. “Oh no! I’m on my way!” I hastily hung up, placed the baby in her car seat, and cursed the slow-moving cars that obstructed my path as I raced to the school. I pictured my daughter sitting in the office, forlorn and disheartened, swinging her legs from a hard chair, waiting for me to arrive.
Upon reaching the school, I grabbed the baby and rushed into the office, only to find my daughter cheerfully assisting the office staff with cleaning. She appeared to be having a blast.
For a moment, I was taken aback, questioning why she wasn’t the sobbing child I had envisioned. I quickly approached her and wrapped her in a hug. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t know! Are you alright?”
“Yep,” she replied, as she proudly pointed to the drawings she had created for the office staff.
“She’s quite the artist,” Karen said with a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, you’re not the only parent who forgot about today being a common day.”
“So, what exactly is common day? I’m still getting used to all this school stuff.”
“It’s an early dismissal day because of parent-teacher conferences. The next one won’t be until February.”
Noted: remember to pick my daughter up early in February during parent-teacher conferences.
“Oh! Did we receive an email about it?”
“Yes, the principal sent one out recently.”
Right, that’s the one email I didn’t read. Why? The subject line was “Parent-Teacher Conferences,” and I had already been informed multiple times that kindergarteners wouldn’t have those meetings.
Then I noticed a bright yellow paper pinned to my daughter’s shirt. Yes, I was aware today was October 8th. The times for pick up and drop off were circled—clearly, they didn’t trust me to remember that she was an afternoon student. Wait…school started an hour earlier today? My earlier success of getting her to school on time morphed into a complete failure. #momfail
This entire situation was undeniably a #momfail. And pinning that note to my daughter’s shirt? Apparently, it wasn’t humiliating enough to overlook the pickup time and receive a phone call—which I initially ignored—about her being in the office, cleaning.
In truth, I understand why they pinned the note to her shirt; if they placed it in her backpack, she would likely forget to pass it along to me. That’s precisely why they send emails. At least the circling wasn’t done in red ink.
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In summary, while the day began with a sense of accomplishment, it quickly devolved into a classic parenting blunder. I learned the importance of staying aware of school schedules, especially during special events like parent-teacher conferences.