Open House Friends

Open House Friends

I wrote an article earlier about open house at your children’s school.  As I was writing the article I kept reminiscing about my oldest’s Kindergarten orientation a few years back.  We no longer go to that school but I made friendships with parents there which I will treasure for the rest of my life.  I thought I would share them with you.

I was certainly excited to go.  I already had quite a few friends whose children went to school there but none were in my child’s classroom.  I will admit, I really wanted to be the room mom too.  In hindsight, I am so glad I persued that opportunity then since my life has been a little crazy since that year.   It was the perfect time for me to volunteer while I was able, somehow since then any free time I had or thought I had has mysteriously evaporated.  Just keep that in mind when your teachers are asking for volunteers, that year truly held some of my most treasured memories.  If you think you can squeeze it in, do it! Your kids will always remember it, I know mine do.  The rewards are worth the invested time and commitment.

The best advice I have is try to volunteer with a friend.  That was exactly what happened to me that year, I was able to be room mother with a new friend.  We had never met before that night.  I sat in the back of the room with a friend I went to high school with and she sat somewhere up front.  As the orientation progressed to the part where they were looking for room moms I informed the parents that I knew the other classes already had theirs since my sister had been contacted to be one.  Despite the fact that the school had contacted my sweet friend to take on the job, she sat there quietly.  As the room full of parents decided I could do the job, she still did not say anything.  We laugh at that now since she came over after the meeting and told me that we were now playing that part together.  We had the best times and I was blessed with a wonderful, life long friend.

So, keep your eyes open when you are at your children’s school functions.  New friends are not only for our children and our lives are enriched by them.