Parents These Days

***Fair Warning:  I'm not talking about anyone in particular or any particular group of people, just ranting about my observations in general***

Is it just me, or have many parents just checked out when it comes to school events?  I mean, what's so hard about being engaged in what goes on at your child's school?  I'm seeing so much of this lately.  And before anyone gets their feathers ruffled, I know how busy life is.  I've worked and been a wife and mom for years, but I always made time to be involved.  I'll be honest, what I see most...parents don't want to take the time or be bothered with giving money, time, or their input.  They only choose to complain when they don't like things.  My response to that?  Don't complain if you're not willing to help resolve things.

This year has been a rough year for my daughter's school.  It started out horribly, and things have been an adjustment.  But through it all, I thought I would see more "pulling together" from our families, and I'm just not seeing that.  I think there's been even more withdrawal from parents this year.  And it's not just our school, my friends in Dallas have said the same thing.

Now I will say that our annual carnival was this last weekend and we had a great turnout!  I missed seeing a lot of faces, but overall I was pleased with how many families came and had a good time.

I'm sure a lot of this is coming from being in PTA...I see more parents complain but aren't willing to do anything about it.  It just makes me sad.  Sure, there are plenty of times I don't want to go to a meeting, I don't want to volunteer, I'm tired of sending money, but it's for my daughter.  To give her the best years in school as possible with as many extra opportunities as possible.  And it's not just school, it's outside activities too.  I know so many parents who don't have their kids involved in anything.

Hear me out before you attack me :)

I know better than most how expensive things are and how poor our economy is these days.  Budgets are tight.  We've paid the big bucks in the past for competitive cheer, but not this year.  We couldn't afford it.  Now if her dad would help pay for stuff every now and again... we chose to do a cheaper activity this year.  Soccer.  It's a great league and only cost $75 with the uniform provided.  Now add in about $50 extra for socks and cleats, a ball and we've spent less than 1 month of cheer!  In fact, she's played 2 seasons and we've bought 2 pair of cleats and that's still less than 1 month of cheer!  And that's 8 months of playing soccer!!!

Need something even cheaper...go to the park!  But instead, what do I see day in and day out?  Video games, nothing, TV.  Nothing makes me madder than when I hear a friend/parent tell me they can't sign their kid up for something because they can't afford to, then turn around and talk about a stupid xbox game they just bought!  Really?  That game costs almost as much as I'm paying for soccer each season.  I've seen the prices of Call of Duty.  Or they constantly go out to eat.  Ummm, eat at home for a month, put the money you normally spend in a jar, and I guarantee at the end of the month you could sign your kid up for something reasonable.

I just feel like so many parents have lost sight of what it means to be a parent.  I, by no means am a perfect parent!!!  I spend time on the computer, I spend time away doing PTA business, I spend time with friends.  But I do try to give my daughter my attention first, try to get her involved first, think of her first before I make plans with friends or a vacation.  It's definitely a balancing act, but I'm just so tired of seeing all the things I've been seeing over the last couple of years and it just seems like it's getting worse.

Now, I have to get back to my sweet dog Betsy, who is currently having puppies :)  I can't wait to see Caroline's face when she gets home and sees them!!!