Super School Mom Me

In a past life I was an ordinary every day mum, working part-time and doing my bit to occasionally help out in school.  I’d assist with  paper mache construction or be an extra pair of hand on  trips; it didn’t take an awful lot of effort and when your kids are little they like having you around.  I later joined the Parent Teacher Association  and helped to organise the school disco and handed out refreshments at the Christmas raffle. In a school of 300 or so children we were lucky if we could ever muster up more than about a dozen other mums to volunteer, and the biggest donation for the raffle prize would be  a family sized tin of Quality Street or a bottle of wine. Everything was very low key and by the time my kids were in senior school the last thing either of them wanted was for mum to be constantly hanging around, so somewhat relieved, I took a back seat.

But then I came to Pasadena and met Super School Mom and I realized that parenting in America is a completely different kettle of fish. On the teenager’s very first day in middle school I visited the school office,  handed over her vaccination certificates as if I was registering my new puppy, and wrote a couple of cheques – one which of which was my membership fee for the PTA. Great I thought, good way to meet people and make some new friends, so I sat back and waited for calls to roll in begging for my help. To my surprise I heard nothing. Then I looked through the school handbook and discovered the PTA already consisted of about six different committees and 100 contact names. No wonder they didn't need me.

When the teenager moved up to High School, I became determined to try again.  Pasadena has one of the highest percentages of children in private education than any other city in America, and school places  are won and lost on the size of the parental contribution. Naturally most moms want to keep in the school’s good books, especially if they have younger children waiting to come through.   One way of doing this, besides inviting the Principal over for afternoon tea or offering to donate the contents of the entire library, is to work voluntary service hours above and beyond the compulsory  commitment necessary to avoid the penalty fine.  There is a vast calendar of competitive sports games, concerts, award ceremonies and open evenings requiring parental assistance; plenty of opportunity to bring out your inner CEO. 

Last year I struggled to complete my service hours – one attendance at the first PTA of the year and I vowed never to go again. These moms weren’t planning a simple musical concert, they were mounting a military campaign.

This year, the term is slipping away and once again my service hours are not complete. Seeing an opportunity to earn double time helping to set up for the schools mega fund raising event of the year, the  $170 a dollar a head annual parents' ball, I put my name down to volunteer. An afternoon of napkin folding – how difficult could that be? A morning of putting up decorations in the luxurious surroundings of Pasadena’s poshest hotel? No sweat.  

Yes it was slightly different from hanging up a few balloons in the school hall, and I knew I was in another league as soon as I made my way through the army of volunteers and encountered super-school-dad asking when he could start ironing the 40 odd table-cloths. As I admired the dazzling display of 100 or so donated raffle prizes and items for silent auction, one fellow napkin-folding mom remarked she had yet to find the time to take up the African Safari she had outbid everyone else for two years ago, whilst another confessed still hadn’t used  her prize winning week at the Florida beach house.

And to think I used to get excited at the thought of winning that super sized tin of chocolates. It really is a different world.