<p>^^</p>
<p>How about finding out that your kid volunteered you to be team mom when no one else stepped up? “Oh, my mom will do it.”</p>
<p>How about the times we waited with stray kids late at night until their parents got around to picking up the kids who refused to let us take them home? S was not happy but I would NOT leave until I saw them get to a place a safety (not a dark, deserted bus stop). Oh yea, I was GS troop leader, team mom, soccer coach, room mom, you name it, even PTA president and silent auction/fundraising co-chair, when no one else wanted to do it.</p>
<p>D was happy that at least the cafeteria staff made sure she was well-fed in her first elementary school because they appreciated all I did around the school. S just preferred me to be as invisible as possible, but was otherwise OK about it all.</p>
<p>The worst is finding out the night before or morning of whatever you were volunteered to do, as you’re rushing to get said kid to whatever event. <sigh> Don’t miss those days!</sigh></p>
<p>jmmom I shared your guilty secret - but for me it was no more transportation chair for chorus, color guard mom, GS leader cookie mom, drama set support - and those in the SR year were all downgrades from all the other GS, Cub Scout, Odyssey of the Mind, PTA and boosters club positions and the years I spent getting all the other reluctant Donkeys to step up (I was a great recruiter for the rest of you) 
</p>
<p>When the last one of 4 walked across the stage I was not one of those that hung around the booster club for years afterward. I said good bye and good luck to the next parents and disappeared into the sunset. .</p>
<p>I am indebted to all of you costume moms, team moms, cookie moms, den mothers, and school dance organizers/gym decorators! And Dads. Thank you for doing what would not get done by me in a million years.</p>
<p>I’d read your book but you wouldn’t be so excited by mine. All I did was transport kids (mine and others’) here and there while most moms were at work. And I played the piano for everything, but no biggie, actually…</p>
<p>It takes a village…Yay US! :D</p>
<p>Oh man, hell would be going back to being Cookie Mom again. Five years of that was enough to kill me. And Camping Mom (the leaders didn’t “do camping”), class mother mom, assistant T-ball mom (coach dad talked me into that), goes to every musical performance mom, band mom, birthday party mom, cupcakes for your birthday at school mom, etc etc.</p>
<p>And let’s not forget–sleeping on the floor all night by your bed when you have the croup mom, emergency room visit mom, listen when you’re scared/sad/confused/angry mom, etc etc.</p>
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<p>Sleeping? How about we not forget NOT sleeping? My fourth kid was labeled “one of the two worst sleepers in all my years of practice” by my pediatrician. When he got Roseola I finally stuck him into a swing next to my bed lest I pass out – there was a 24 hour period of no sleep on his part (or at least no sleep unless I was holding him or he was in the swing.) I finally figured out he just needed to sleep next to me to stay asleep, but there was a big lack of sleep on my part for a long time.</p>
<p>Don’t you wonder why they would rather sleep next to your snoring body than in a quiet room by themselves? :D</p>
<p>Anybody else have hallucinations from lack of sleep? We forget these things, or we would never have more than one child.</p>
<p>We had an IB document burning party, too! (complete with Piggy comments as well)</p>
<p>Donkey Father duty: cooked a full spread for 85 people for each kid’s Bar Mitzvah. Neither wanted a fancy hotel party (hurray for genetics!), so he and S2 spent hours and hours making tons of incredible food.</p>
<p>Donkey Mom confession: haven’t coached Destination Imagination since S2 was in 6th grade. Construction cr*p from it is STILL in the basement.</p>
<p>My IRL name: “Mrs. S2’s Mom” – coined by a second grader in S2’s class. The name stuck.</p>
<p>This is my life! ;)</p>
<p>Donkey fathers don’t get to stop when the Lil’ Asses go off to college. They ascend multiple flights of stairs and navigate narrow hallways with clothing, futons, musical instruments, bookcases, assorted rugs, etc. to fourth floor suites. They keep a tool box handy for assembling furniture and have a GPS to find grocery stores that sell all the heavy groceries needed for studying. They are around when said offspring heads off for internships and new jobs. </p>
<p>I love Donkey Father and have been so grateful to have him along for the ride.</p>
<p>shennie-LOL to your movie credit!</p>
<p>I long ago termed myself “Mother As Pack Mule.” Donkey Father and I helped S1 carry a huge, heavy sofa down three flights of stairs with narrow landings to a new apartment. Donkey Father then announced that we were not the 7 Santini Bros. (there were only the 3 of us) and if S1 ever moved again, he needed to get grad student friends to help him or the couch was getting tossed from his 10th floor window.</p>
<p>I have been planning to write a book for a long time entitled, “Well, I guess I have to pick this up off the stairs because nobody else will.” Too wordy? It’s a comedy. :D</p>
<p>Actually, though the no-sleepers is a problem, what I meant was the nights I spent on floor by S’s crib, making sure he continued to breathe when he had croup. Not much sleeping on my part, to tell the truth.</p>
<p>I have been known to scream in frustration to my family: “I AM NOT THE FAMILY SHERPA!!”</p>
<p>momof3sons - I have a chapter proposal for your comedy.</p>
<p>Scene: jmhousehold next to expensive Thomas Moser chair, which cannot be seen due to overload of coats/jackets/golf vests etc. adorning it.</p>
<p>Characters: jmmom, jmdad and jmson.</p>
<p>Props: said chair, said outerwear and our Oxford English Dictionary.</p>
<p>jmmom to assembled: See? Here in the dictionary? "h-a-n-g-a-r’… “c-h-a-i-r”… they are different!</p>
<p>All assembled laughed. No apparent effect on their brains/coat storage habits, however.</p>
<p>FWIW, while I did my share of girl scout, soccer, choir, and youth theatre mom stuff, my kids also knew my limits. My son has turned out to be a GREAT planner/organizer of his peers as a result. You should hear him complaining about what poor planners his peers are. My kids even get their friends to clean up during sleepovers!</p>
<p>
In a way, this is very high praise from your child.
Donkey Father always says things like this, but somehow…</p>
<p>I can see that “Lament” is the right title for my book.</p>
<p>Sorry but your book will go nowhere unless you associate your personal conduct with some highly numerous ethnic group, or other bloc.</p>
<p>maybe “parenting secrets of a Jewish donkey father”
or “Raising children the southern Donkey way”
or " Tea Party donkey parenting guide".</p>
<p>Or whatever… you get the idea. So long as the group comprises a lot of bodies with some modicum of group identification and some purchasing power. Multinational bodies are better.
There may be a lot of donkeys, but purchasing power may be the issue.</p>
<p>^^^ lol (10 char)</p>
<p>Yea, my S never slept through the night, from the time he was born until well after his sister was born two years later! The 1st pediatrician kept saying I was “overstimulating him” and the manager of our apartment came by to be sure we weren’t beating & abusing the poor tyke. Sheesh! He still has a hard time getting to sleep but sure can sleep in for a VERY long time these days (decades later).</p>
<p>I love this thread! I always say I have “schmuck” tatooed on my forehead but as soon as it says “door mat” I’m in trouble.</p>