Gripes!

I guess while I am still grouchy this afternoon, I will post another gripe of mine.

Each year our elementary schools have what they call a reading fair. Some classes are required to do this project while with others it is optional.

What the project entails is, each child chooses and reads a book, then do a "visual book report" on a large board for display. They are each judged and the winner goes on to county, and then state if they continue to win.

Each year my kids are very excited to do this project. They carefully choose their book and spend a lot of time on their boards. They have all sorts of ideas how the perfect board will be.

Here is where my gripe comes in. Each year after submitting their project, both of them continue to ask if I think they will win. This happens many times a day. Over and over.

I don't have the heart to tell them that, "No, you probably won't win."

You cannot imagine the complexity that goes into these projects. And on most of them, there is no evidence that a child even touched it.

The competition between the parents is fierce! Just yesterday I was behind a woman at Hobby Lobby. As I eavesdropped on her conversation with the check-out lady, I heard her tell all about the project she was going to do. I also overheard the total to be $69.00 "Are you crazy?!?!?"

All I know is that when parents involve themselves so much into their children's schoolwork, they are setting up the child for failure. I want my kids to be confident and take pride in their work. And so that they don't have to rely on Mommy to do their work for them.