Mashup: Parent Comment Rage and Beautiful Winter Images

I take guilty pleasure in reading the comments on my school district's Facebook announcements of delays and closures.  We've now had several of both this winter.  Parents go absolutely nuts, complaining about the administration.  One really fun facet: the comments cut both ways, of course.  If the district delays or cancels school, that's inconvenient and sends a bad message.  If the district holds a full day or only delays without cancelling, that gets its own round of second-guessing.

To share the joy, I've copied selected comments verbatim from these Facebook announcements and surprinted them on beautiful winter scenes.  Enjoy!


On the day of a delay

This from a snowy Saturday when the high school basketball championship games were not cancelled.  Linda Lane is the superintendent.  Bus drivers love to comment; not sure if they're parents of children in the district or not.

On a very cold morning when we'd had delays but as of then no school closures at all this year





















On the day of a cancellation for cold (but not snow or ice)

When after-school activities were cancelled because the weather went south during the school day

Flickr Photo credits
1  blmiers2 - winter bird in the snow
2  Denis Colette - Route de l'Arc-en-ciel...!!!
3  SBA73 -  neu i vent a la mola
4  Let ideas compete - hot air in cold air
5  blmeiers2 - Frosty Footpath - Winter Snow

4 Reasons to Not Post Gleefully About your Kids' Return to School

First day of fifth and first grade

August on social media freaks me out by showing me the giant variation in first days of school around the country.  My southern-most friends have already posted their first day of school pics, so this post comes a tad late. I enjoy the ritual of the first day of school picture.  I do not enjoy the category of post that I'll call "My stinking children are back in school, and now I'm free!". I know summer is different and that children can be annoying.   But adults can annoy, too, and these posts are one of the ways.  I shall now state my reasons against posting that kind of thing.  

4.  It looks bad and selfish.  
This is probably the big theme here - that those who are responsible for raising children look a little ugly when we wax ecstatic about them going away.  This goes double for those of us fortunate enough to have primary home and parenting responsibility.  Not everyone can structure their family life in such a way that summer feels different because we're home full- or part-time to notice that the kids are underfoot when school's not in session.  It might be true that you're psyched to have more quiet or autonomy or whatever, but just keep that to yourself.

3.  Summer vacation is sweet and fleeting.  
As my coworker prepares to become an empty nester, I'm reminded of how short this period of our family life will feel one day.  Summer means our kids get to be a little bored, which seeds their creativity.  Summer means when they ask to play catch, I don't have to ask if they've done their homework.  Summer means no evening school events.  Celebrating the return to school means not celebrating the supremely unique chrono-province of summer vacation.  

2.  Some of your friends wish they had kids to annoy them.  
Those going through fertility issues (as we once did) find sour grapes posts by parents pretty hard to take.  Also, there are single people who would love to be married and have the joys and struggles of family life.  Those of us lucky enough to be parents would do well to stifle this impulse to dance on the schoolhouse steps for their sakes. 

1.  Children can read.  
This might be the only reason you need.  What if you were a kid and read over your parents' shoulder that they were so pleased you wouldn't be around so much now that school has started?  Would that make you feel wanted and loved?  If our kids posted "My parents are going away!  Yay!", we would use our authority over them to make them take that post down.  When we post, we're not even saying it to them.  We're saying it to other people about them, which can only hurt and embarrass them more.    

Chart: Ch-ch-ch-changes

Chart: Facebook Event Translator

I put this up on graphjam last week when I thought of it. It already has 54 votes. If you also "vote my lol", maybe I'll make it onto the main page of graphjam.