The Awards

So yesterday was a hell of a day. I won’t go into massive details because they are utterly boring but exhausted me. We did have the girls’ awards ceremony yesterday at school. I forget every year what kind of torturous hell it can be to sit through an awards ceremony. First though I must brag.

Molly got an award for having honor roll the entire year, including a medal (which is not in pic)

Claire got an award for Academic Excellence in Reading, she scored a 4 (highest possible score) on the end of grade tests and was the only child in her class to do so. She also got an award for having honor roll in the last half of the year (not shown in pic)

Pardon the red eye, the lighting was quite dim in the room and had to use my zoom and flash which doesn’t always get the best pic. I am very proud of my girls and hope they really keep up with being so academically gifted throughout their entire school life, regardless if it’s through homeschooling or if we end up back in public school at some point.

The torture, oh the torture. Instead of just whining about it I am going to whine about it while passively addressing the individuals I should have complained to in person.

To the administrators: Could you possibly consider getting some seats that are made for adult rear ends AND maybe even cushioned? 2 hours in those rock hard chairs and most of us crack and creak when we stand up. Never mind actually walking with a limp so bad it makes Igor look like a ballet dancer. And maybe consider the 5th graduation being seperate from everyone else? The poor dears were bored as sin while watching the 3rd and 4th grade classes get their awards. And I don’t really want to be mean, and it will sound horribly mean, but I just don’t care about watching a 30 min slideshow dedicated to the kids leaving the school since my own aren’t in the class. Seriously, the kids would probably appreciate it if they had their own ceremony just for them.

To the teachers: If you have to take more than 2 minutes to brag about the child you are about to hand an award, I am going to start suspecting something is wrong with you. 2 minutes is a long time to talk about how smart the kid is. Can we cut it down to 30 seconds to a minute please? Also (and this one really pisses me off), NEVER spend said 2 minutes going on about how the 3rd grader (not my child) is doing 6th grade math then look at the parent and say “I am sorry”. What exactly are you sorry about? There should NEVER be an apology for a child showing brilliance! Also, gender does not reflect intelligence. Recognize the individual, don’t tell me it’s amazing that a girl is brilliant in the areas of science or that a boy who reads is unusual. If that is true half the teachers are lying their asses off in these awards ceremonies I am attending.

To the parents (warning, this one will be long): Where to start with this one. Oy, parents often are the ones that irritate me most because they show the most hypocrisy. First, don’t get pissy with another parent because  s/he is loudly cheering, whistling, and clapping for their kid. Parents should be able to express their excitement for their kids without you telling them to shut up. Secondly, let’s take into consideration what your kid wears to graduation (or school). A skin tight black dress with fishnet neckline and a hot pink bra peeking out the top is absolutely disgusting! She is 11, not 18! Lastly, your son’s 5th grade graduation is not a good time to show up drunk. Seriously. I wanted to scoop up the poor kid and run away with him, you could see the embarrasment on his face. His peers were awesome, instead of making fun of him they took time to support him. Shame on you asshole!

So this was our last awards ceremony. Well maybe. Seeing the excitement Claire had over getting her recognition made me think I should look at picking up some awards to give her periodically. Since we will be year round I will probably do it after some major milestone. But I am thrilled that at least our recognitions will be short, sweet, and without a chair driving into the middle of my butt cheeks.