Alert!
The third-grade play will be held tomorrow at 1 p.m.
Well, that’s great, but my kid is in high school.
Notice!
Choir practice has been moved from 4 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Well, alright, but my kid is in drama, not choir.
Important message for parents!
Please remember to always accompany young children to and from the bus stop. Click here to learn more about bus regulations and our Student Code of Conduct.
Alright, thanks, she never waited for the bus on her own when she was little, but she can manage that now.
Ah, the days of constant communication, a parent’s dream.
Thanks to technology, the schools hound us not only about our own children but everyone else’s as well.
It’s enough to make you miss the good old days of the simple flyer. If the parents had to know something, they’d read about it on some crumpled piece of paper the kid pulled out of the backpack.
Sure, the kid normally pulled it out at 10 p.m. the night before something you had to prepare for, but with hindsight being 20/20, I’d take that every day over the constant “bings” and “beeps” and app sign-ins and glowing notification icons that appear constantly now on the phone and computer and the ring of the telephone on the automated calls.
There is nowhere to hide. The schools chase us down with text messages, emails, automated phone calls and apps we are supposed to have on our phones and sign into.
It’s worse when you’re at work, expecting an important call from a colleague or doctor or repairman fixing something serious at home. You’ve got to answer that call, or at least check the message to ease your mind – and you’re meeting with clients or the boss. When the phone dings, you try to sneak a peek without being rude – but it’s just another school message that doesn’t apply to your child.
A never-ending stream of frivolous announcements bombards us from everywhere like missiles.
The problem is it doesn’t take us long to get burnt out on them. It has created a Boy Who Cried Wolf situation. When an important message finally comes in, we don’t notice it, because we’ve already become immune to the nonstop daily bothers of things that have nothing to do with us.
You want to know about the date of the program your kid has a starring role in? Sure, it’s in there somewhere. Just sit down for a spell (might as well pour a cup of coffee or, blessed be, something strong). It’s going to take a while.
You’ve got to dig through phone messages (from two sources, not just one) and emails and that app. Scroll on past announcements for sports your kid doesn’t play, programs your kid isn’t in, information on lunches your kid doesn’t buy, notes for kids much older or much younger than yours, invitations to craft shows and fundraisers and merchandise sales that don’t support your kid’s activities, suggestions on pencils and pens and electronics, warnings that your kid shouldn’t be smoking or vaping, helpful advice on how to sneak vegetables into your kid’s pizza or desserts, meeting information for clubs your kid is not in and even is not old enough or young enough or in the right classes to be qualified to join …
And just give up and call another parent, or email the teacher to ask.
