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Friday, January 30, 2009

Field Trip Chaperone

How many times do I have to repeat this ritual before I realize that being a field trip chaperone always seems like more fun that it really is? While I love, love love being with my kids while watching monkeys throw poo or watching their eyes glaze over as a desert botanical museum guide talks about the 8000 different varieties of cactus in Arizona, I don't always love the rest of the kids in the group. We always start out trying to get all of my kids friends in one group but teachers are smart and they like to give the tough kids to the chaperones so the teacher can have a break for the day.

Inevitably, and I'm sure you can all back me up on this, we end up with a group of 4 or 5 really decent kids and 2 or 3 that make you wonder how their parents are even still mildly sane.

I had 2 of THOSE kids today...a bossy, loud young lady who monopolized all of the interactive exhibits and argued LOUDLY and aggressively with anyone who asked for a turn, who ended up thinking she was my best friend by the end of the trip and "whiny boy" who would not stay with the group and stole everyone's food at lunch. Seriously. He would wait til kids weren't looking then grab one of their chips or cookies and shove it in his mouth.

At least I was smart enough to remember the hellish bus ride from the last field trip and made the decision to drive my own car to the Science Center. Which was an awesome decision, cause after loading everyone on the bus to go back to school, I got to drive home in silence. The silence was a godsend because I had a raging headache from sitting in the front row of the IMAX movie where my group insisted on sitting! Have you made that mistake at IMAX? It's too much! I can barely watch one of those movies from the back row.

Anyway, nothing makes you appreciate silence more than spending 4 hours in an enclosed building with 5 schools worth of students all having the time of their lives at the top of their lungs!

I hope I learned my lesson this time. I hope when my 1st grader comes home in a few weeks telling me about their upcoming field trip that this one is still fresh on my mind. But not so fresh that it compels me to run to a corner and assume the fetal postion while rocking back and forth muttering "Can't go with the bad kids. Evil fieldtrips. Please no more. Teacher gives me bad kids."

2 Comments:

Anonymous said...

I am not so much into Field Trip chaperoning either.

However, I was supposed to chaperone a 4th grade field trip last week to see the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center. That actually sounded really neat!

Of course it was cancelled because of a snow day :(

Just my luck!

Miss Hope said...

First trip with my oldest cured that. From then on? I drove behind the bus everywhere. My nerves can't take the abuse either.

My middle kid? I had power there (when we lived in my home town). I knew ALL their parents having grown up with them and I would whip out my cell phone in a heart beat. I became the Evil Chaperone!

I haven't done a field trip in over a year. I don't know enough parents here for threat potential.

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