Other Parents

After school snack for my little foodie

Dear Other Parents:

Are you kidding me? For real serious kidding me? You see at the beginning of soccer season when no one volunteered to organize the end of the year party, I silently hoped that one day I would see the email with someone volunteering. Then half way through the season when our coach said "hey all...we should have an end of season pizza party " kind of like every grade school soccer team ever does.... there were crickets. A few of you brazen folks e-mailed back with "that sounds like a great idea!". Yeah it does. Here's the issue for those who aren't getting it. The coach is the coach. His commitment to the team extends to being a volunteer coach. He does not traditionally, have to plan the end of season party. The e-mail was a indirect (and albeit, ineffective) way on his part of soliciting a volunteer. Again, I hoped that someone would volunteer. I wanted to ask someone to do it but that seemed lame. However,  here's what's on my plate - my husband is coaching a different soccer team, I am the room parent for my son's class, I'm the snack coordinator for the soccer team already, I work part time, I volunteer in the library and the classroom and help out with girl scouts. I know we are all busy. Some of us more than others but for right now, I'm full. I'm doing my part for the school. However, after hearing 3 weeks of crickets while the coach dropped hints (dear coach - don't drop hints just ask directly) and then finally hearing him say he'd put his wife in charge, I opened my mouth and said I would help her. And then, long story short, ended up doing the whole thing  - pizza party, coaches gift, etc.

Now, I am the first to admit that I am choosing to do this. I didn't have to open my mouth and volunteer and that's fine. But here's the rub. I finally found a place and a time (which was not easy since about 30 soccer teams are ending their season that day) and here's a sampling of the responses I have received thus far:

"Could you move it to another day since I'm setting up for the auction that afternoon...." (umm...really? Move the entire party because you have a commitment?)

"We're not coming because that place doesn't have vegan pizza" (Ok seriously. Your daughter is 6. She wants to be with the girls. Bring her your own slice of freakin vegan pizza and show up...WTF.)

In short, other parents, get over yourselves. I am the first one to say that spending Saturday afternoon at a pizza parlor while 15 girls run around begging for money for video games is not my idea of a good time. But this is one of the things we do for them. They have played soccer in 90 degree heat and freezing muddy rain. They have showed up for practice once a week when they were tired after school. It's a celebration of the end of the season. So please, suck it up.