Embarrassing my children...

If I had some advice for a mother of an elementary school child, it would be, "Enjoy the times that you don't embarrass your child."

I must say that Tyler is very kind. He doesn't come right out and say, "Holy cow, Mom, you are so embarrassing!" like Aubree does. I can just tell that sometimes he's not happy that I'm hangin' around.

How about the time last year when he was in sixth grade... he had forgotten to take his antibiotic in the morning, so I showed up at school with a syringe of pink stuff. When I popped in the doorway of the classroom, his teacher told me to "come right in and give it to him." Poor Tyler. He was in the front of the class and I pranced to the front with my little syringe, told him to "open up," and gave him his medication. He was very nice about it.

That is why I wanted so badly NOT to embarrass him when I accompanied him on the first 7th grade fieldtrip of the year. I went and sat by him on the bus. He didn't complain. As I sat quietly on the bus, I chanted quietly in my head, "Don't be embarrassing, don't be embarrassing..."

When we got to the State Fair, I took the group of kids to see the agricultural stuff...

Tyler was mortified when I took out my camera. Actually, I think Hunter was more embarrassed by me than Ty was...

After seeing the animals, the kids got to boon around the Fair for a couple of hours on their own. I began by following Tyler and his friends around. Tyler never complained, but after a few minutes I thought better of my actions and went off on my own. "Call me on my cell, if you need me," I told Tyler.

It's a pretty lonely feeling to hang out at the State Fair by yourself. I went and watched a Magic Show. When I looked back, I saw Tyler with his friends and tried to snap this picture without anyone noticing...

Luckily (?), my loneliness ended when a boy from my group said, "There you are! I've been looking all over for you." He wanted to hang out with me.

"All the kids went over by the Ferris Wheel," I told him.

"That's okay. I'd rather hang out with you," he said.

Hmmm... so I ended up with a sidekick after all. What a very nice boy he was and we had a great time watching the Tiger Show.

I also went and bought myself a pound of fudge to make myself not feel so lonely at the Fair. It was really good. My sidekick didn't want any. (Thank goodness because I can down fudge like nobody's business.)

Bottom line... enjoy the elementary school fieldtrips when your kids really want you there. There is nothing as fun as your child feeling special because their parent is there. You won't get that "special feeling" in Junior High!

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