Soda Mom

So, this whole public education thing is new ballgame for me. Since being a stay-at-home mom, I have loved the freedom of doing what I want, when I want (excluding nap times, of course). Now, life revolves around 12:10 (drop off at school) and 3:19 (bus arrives). I'm learning to conform but darn it, sometimes I just want to stay in my pajamas all day and have no reason to leave the house!!

Plus, I don't really love having my parenting on display. Take for example the two straight weeks that Bennett wanted nothing on his feet besides his fireman rain boots. Who cares that it was 85 degrees outside? Those boots were cool to him. But was the teacher thinking I was a careless parent for letting him wear rain boots when there was no RAIN? Or today's example...I had some church meetings this morning and knew that I would be short on time before school started. The solution was to let the kids eat in the car while we went from the church meeting to the carpool stops to the school. Somewhere along the way, Bennett had a mustard covered pickle fall out of his sandwich, roll down his shirt, and plop all over his lap. Lovely. Possible teacher reaction: "Why does this kid show up looking so dirty? Doesn't his mom look at him before he leaves the house?"

Bennett does love kindergarten though. I love watching him get off the bus with a big smile and having him pull treasured art projects out of his backpack.

The best day of the week--by far--is FUN FRIDAY. We have a countdown for it all week long. See, on Fun Friday, they have DOUBLE recess AND they have snacks!! What could be cooler??? Not only that, if you are the person assigned to bring the snack, they call you a SNACK MASTER. Anything with the word master in it is super, super cool.

So last week, Bennett was assigned to be a Snack Master. Excitement was palpable at our house in anticipation of his Fun Friday! At the start of the school year, his teacher sent a note home explaining the snack schedule and encouraged parents to help the kids chose healthy snacks to share.

The problem is...Bennett was assigned to bring a drink. In my book there is no healthy drink besides water or skim milk. Any other flavored drink is reserved for parties, picnics, or happy meals. What to do? You can't buy milk in kid-sized portions and water seemed like a completely lame idea according to Bennett.

His answer....soda!!! He said that they had had juice boxes every single week and he wanted to bring something different. He knew the kids would love to have soda! He talked about it for days and kept asking to go to the store to buy his soda. What could I do?

Look, the truth is there's not a lot of difference between a soda and a juice(less) box. But for some reason there is a perception of good health when there's a drawing of a piece of fruit on the package.

I say if the kid wants to bring soda, let him bring soda. I bought the little mini cans--90 calories each--and let Bennett load them into his backpack on Friday. His knees were almost buckling under the weight of 24 mini Sprites. But he was so excited!!!

"She let him bring soda?" I knew that would be a likely reaction from some juice box purists. And rumor has it that a friend of mine had to explain the striking similarities of soda and juice boxes to one such parent.

Does that make me a bad mom? I let my kid take soda (gasp!!) to school! What's next? Drinking parties at my house? It's such a slippery slope!

To a lifetime of bad parenting on display for teachers and judgemental parents alike....Cheers!