The School Parking Lot: Our Own Little Indy 500

My husband has been after me to start a blog for quite a long time. He has two successful blogs and is a very successful writer. I on the other hand am not a writer and this is very new territory for me. I am a private person, but after this morning an incident happened at school when I dropped off my daughter, which left me very upset. I came home and told my husband and he said that would make a good blog entry. So now here I am, sitting at the computer and writing my first entry.

One reason I decided to do this is to let other moms know they are not alone. Even though being a good wife and mother can be very frustrating it is also the most fulfilling and selfless thing I believe a woman can do. I don't want this to just be a blog for complaining, but also for recipes, ideas, helpful hints, and for other moms like myself to not feel so alone and isolated.

This morning I drove my daughter to school as usual. Also, as usual are the same offenders who won't follow the rules when dropping of their children. They put their children at risk, as well as being rude and not bothering to think about other parents who have to get their children to school. They drop their kids off in the middle of the street, in front of stop signs, and they cut you off and make u-turns where ever they feel like it. These people never seem to get tickets or caught and amazingly their children haven't gotten hit by a car. On the other hand, I follow the rules and get waved over by a security guard this morning in the school parking lot. This is enough to make you want to scream! I followed the rules, and still I get called to task for it. I pulled in the school parking lot, got my daughter out of the car and walked her across safely. In the meantime, cars are roaring through the parking lot to drop off their own kids and not giving my child a chance to cross. So my usual daily thing is to throw my body into the front of one of these wonderful parent's 40 mph cars so my daughter can get across the lot safetly and get to school. Needless to say, I on the other hand give their children more consideration. When I see any child I make sure I stop my car so they can cross. I also don't drive 40 mph in the street or in the parking lot. I am very mindful of other people's children even if my child doesn't seem to be given the same consideration. So I return to my car, again throwing myself in front of the cars of one these terrific and caring parents. I get in my car, carefully back out of the parking space, only to be pulled over by a security guard and asked where I had dropped off my child. I told the security guard I had parked and walked my child across the lot. She said to me "that's okay then." Well, duh! How come you don't notice the repeat offenders morning after morning, yet you hassle me! That's seems what usually happens to me: I follow the rules, yet I still get nailed for something I never would have done.

Well, I look at it this way: at least I am a good example to my daughter even if no one else seems to take notice. All that really matters is what my daughter thinks of me. I know I have done my job and been a good parent not just to my child, but to other people's children even if they don't respect the rules, their own children, or anyone else's child.


Our school parking lot during drop off. Happy Monday!!