Kindergarten Graduation

I stink at parenting. More specifically I stink as the parent who goes on field trips. The extremely weird and ironic thing is that Laurel loves that I go.

Or maybe I just hate the zoo. Now that I think about it, all of the field trips I've been on are at nature trails or places where animals are confined to one area. I don't like seeing animals stuck in captivity for our viewing pleasure. It really bothers me.

And I'm not a hard-core animal advocate or even an environmentalist in the slightest. I like to take care of our earth, but I am horribly American in my efforts. It has to be convenient. I'm willing to drive if it's in an area I am in most often.

Lately I've been fighting with what my priorities are as a parent. I put Laurel into T-Ball this year and I am looking into a dance class for Dar. I want to give opportunities to my girls that play on their strengths. So they don't look back and regret the fact that mom was too blind to see what they were interested in. But there is the monetary issue that plays a key part in my decisions. I really don't like to put a price on my girls learning.

And partly I feel like I don't have any skills that benefit me or anyone else. When I was fairly young my mom bought me a pair of ballet slippers because I told her I wanted to be a dancer. I'm not sure if she signed me up for classes or if she couldn't afford them but I've always felt like that it was a huge loss because I didn't even get a chance to try ballet. Thinking back on it, I'm not sure if I would have been any good at it, considering how klutzy I am, and really, I don't have the personality for it as I am not a perfectionist in that sense. My body just doesn't move simultaneously with other people. Graceful is not one word to use to describe me.

I felt like a klutzy ballerina today at the zoo today. I did not move simultaneously with other people. In fact we moved opposite of other people. The ‘group’ moved from the front of the park towards the back and rushed back to the meeting place which was in front. I however figured if we went straight for the back and made our way towards the front, that it would be more efficient. We got to see everything we wanted to see. Except for the other people because they were still in the front of the park.

Oh well. The zoo doesn’t hold those kinds of animals. Something about human rights…