I Came, I Jumped, and I Learned...

In honor of Women's Heart Health Week, my son's pre-school invited parents in today to join the children's weekly gross motor skills class. Heart shaped invitations went out last week, and parents were gently reminded by teacher's that today was the big day. Parents were to show up in their workout clothes ready to participate in some heart healthy fun.

I truly debated on whether to attend this event as it meant that Jack, my youngest son, was going to have a delayed nap...and, that I would be jumping with his 21 lb. frame attached at my hip. However, the decision was made for me when I pictured Cole's sad and rejected face in my head when he was the only kid with a parent that did not show up. (I know, all of you statistic people out there are a laughing at me as the odds of every child having a parent attend is unlikely. Laugh away...it gets better.)

I went to said "Jump and Learn", and here is what I learned:

1.) Cole could have cared less that I was present.
2.) He spent more time with his friend's moms than with me. I can't believe I am already the un-cool mom.
3.) Listening ears fly out the window when mommies are within site of school activities.
4.) Teachers, parents, and kids running in circles (no matter how organized) is a very bad idea.
5.) I should probably not be a room mother. (See #1 and #3 above.)
6.) Cole cries more than Tammy Faye Baker.
7.) Preschool teachers are valuable, needed, and a gift from God...but they are human.
8.) I can spend 4 hours worrying and analyzing one harmless pre-school event.
9.) Jump and Learn with parents is stupid.

Never again will I feel the pressure to attend a school event unless that said pressure comes from my child. In the words of Cole, "Mommy, you are not a kid. School is not for you." I am sure that having me at school was almost as weird as when I saw my high school teachers out at the grocery store. Collision of two worlds.

Someone continue to remind me that it should not matter what other people think of me. I should not look for their approval. And, no matter how in touch I think I am with my intuition, I cannot read people's minds.

This is just pre-school. How frickin' neurotic am I going to be when he gets to high school?