When I was in elementary school I remember sitting through PTA meetings with my mom. I actually remember thinking that I couldn’t wait to be a mom and be on the PTA. It just seemed so COOL.
That was in the ’80’s and ’90’s and since then PTA Moms get a bad wrap.
PTA moms are portrayed as snotty, cliquey stay-at-home-moms with nothing better to do than to attend 2 hour long meetings where we tell you to give us money for some crazy project, and dictate the gluten levels permitted in you child’s sandwich. Trust me, I am the LAST person who should be judging what other people pack their kids for lunch…mine have already had some questionable selections this year.
In reality this couldn’t be further from the truth. As a PTA mom over the past 4 years, I have completed many projects and not one has involved gluten levels. I have volunteered countless hours helping improve our school and give our teachers and students support.
How I Get Involved
I have:
- baked desserts and cooked food for various teacher appreciation events
- supervised field trips
- organized a silent auction that raised close to five times the anticipated funds
- spent time supervising and assisting students learning to code online
- attended meetings over the summer to determine schedules and budgets to keep our school moving
- helped out with holiday parties and gender reveal parties
- set up, tore down, and helped students shop the annual book fair
- recreated an entire website to give it a modern feel
- supervised a group of students for their weekly walking school bus and running club to promote healthy choices
- dressed up in a shark costume to help kids get excited for a 5K – and then woke up at 5am to work the 5K
- and so much more!
It just kills me when I am talking to another parent and they tell me that they are too busy to be involved with PTA. Are you kidding me!? PTA is not just working in the school during school hours. It can be attending community events and showing school pride. It can be helping at evening events like Storybook Parade and Skate Night. It can be making a few calls on your lunch break to help get corporate sponsors for the 5K. It can be contributing to the various teacher appreciation events that USUALLY involving just dropping something off.
Still Nervous?
My advice is to start small and go to a meeting and hide in the corner. Observe and see what upcoming activities your feel you could help with. At our meetings we frequently have signup sheets and a job board to let you choose what suits your skill set and time availability best. The important part is that you take an active role in helping improve your child’s school experience.
But don’t speak up too much. The PTA likes happy followers not open free thinkers. At least that was my experience.
I’m sorry that’s been your experience. Our PTA would LOVE to get people who wanted to share their opinions!
I never was very involved in the PTA, although I did help with a few events here and there. Instead, I’ve been involved in our BSA Troop. I’m much more comfortable hanging out with the Dads than I was spending time with the other Moms – women can be a little catty sometimes. Men are a bit more accepting, although it’s been quite interesting being the lone female on a campout or having to hold my own in a Troop meeting.
I wanted to share this blog post with you because you may be in a position to make a difference in your school. This behavioral psychologist and food researcher came up with some fairly brilliant but very simple and low-cost ideas to make some major changes in the school cafeteria. The kids seemed perfectly happy to eat healthier food just because of some simple changes in placement and presentation.
I’d love to see a cafeteria manager give some of them a try and see if they work, but my kids are all older now. Maybe you could pass them onto someone at your school? https://adrianscrazylife.com/2016/01/sneaky-tricks-for-weight-loss-5-school-cafeteria.html