<p>MotherOfTwo...yours made me think of another one...to the relative who was too poor to exchange Christmas presents. "If money is so tight, why aren't both of you working?" (btw...both kids were in college...).</p>
<p>How could you give a "sportsmanship" award to the racist, homophobic, generally bigoted and disliked by a majority of his teammates senior, suspended for most of his last soccer season because of drinking and academic probation? I don't care that the football team won the state championship and he was one of the star players, you could have found a better candidate.</p>
<p>This happened a while ago, but - "To the ignorant teachers and administrators at our high school who did not bother to find out how to pronounce the students' names they read at graduation or the senior awards ceremony. None of the names are at all terribly difficult, and it must be humiliating for a parent from a non-Western country (e.g. India) whose name is easily pronounced just by reading the syllables phonetically to hear their name garbled as if it were written in hieroglyphics or something while their kid is being recognized for his achievements. Oh yes, I also must add that they must not read CC, because they also mispronounce the names of well known colleges. For example Middlebury became Middleberg, etc."</p>
<p>To a relative: "I know that in your heart-of-hearts you believe my wife and I are incompetent parents, as are all of your siblings, and our children as well as the chilidren of your siblings are just waiting for their parents' incompetence to be exposed so that you can step in and rescue them, but please don't keep telling us about what good parents anyone who is not related to you are. The children of your siblings are in college, graduate school and medical school and we don't want to make them insecure. And No! I will not carry that bulky graduation gift across a large field at commencement to the child of someone you know only socially when you could drop it off at his house. I don't want to carry it. He doesn't want to cart it around. I know you want him to remember you, but this is not the way to do it. Praise your relatives and quit trying to buy the favor of outsiders."</p>
<p>
[quote]
To the ignorant teachers and administrators at our high school who did not bother to find out how to pronounce the students' names they read at graduation or the senior awards ceremony. None of the names are at all terribly difficult, and it must be humiliating for a parent from a non-Western country (e.g. India) whose name is easily pronounced just by reading the syllables phonetically to hear their name garbled as if it were written in hieroglyphics or something while their kid is being recognized for his achievements.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This happened to my daughter at the elementary school awards program, and she has an ordinary German/Jewish last name. She was called up multiple times, and the principal mispronounced her name every time. It got to the point where the entire fifth grade was calling out the correct pronunciation every time the principal got it wrong.</p>
<p>A similar thing actually happened to my daughter at the senior awards ceremony for 12th grade, but I didn't include it in my gripe above. The assistant principal first recognized her by announcing the name of another girl with the same last name who graduated three years earlier. She was a terrible student and her brother had been arrested for vandalizing our school. Then, when the other kids called out my daughter's name to correct him, he messed it up (similar to saying "Christa" instead of "Christine"). Then, realizing he was still messed up, he said, "Let's just call her 'C. Smith' !" (This is not her real name, but you get the idea.) The administrator announcing the next group of awards was so horrified that he made a point of recognizing my daughter using her correct name and making her stand up again. She took a lot of teasing from her friends and parents of her friends for that one!</p>
<p>I realize the private school/parochial school/day academy/well funded suburban school your children attend produces high test scores and even higher college acceptance rates. The urban public school my children attend cannot compare. Fifty percent of its students are from poverty level families. Sixty percent of its students are minorities. And its drop out rate is too high.</p>
<p>But its teaching staff is just as dedicated and there are sufficient numbers of honors and AP classes.</p>
<p>More importantly, my children have the ready compassion and ease with those of other backgrounds that life in an urban public school can teach. And that is more important to me than all the bragging rights your school provides.</p>
<p>Wow I've been holding this in for 2 years!
To my brother-in-law and by extension to my sister
Yeah yeah yeah we have known since birth that your oldest is Sam Superior. He hasn?t set a foot wrong except for that 5 minutes when he was 14, had a zit and was grouchy. I?m well aware that you make more money than we do and your 4 children have thrived at their various private schools while our DD was in public schools. We know that Sam has so many wonderful offers with full rides to the most marvelous colleges. But I swear to the heavens if I hear one more snide comment about lowly state schools or the fact that we only have to pay one tuition, I will have to be restrained. Yes our DD is bright but not brilliant like her cousin. Yes, we make less than you do and we are stretched to the limit paying for her OOS tuition. And yes we would have been overjoyed for her to have siblings but it didn?t happen. But guess what! Our DD chose her school. She is as happy as can be there and we?re thrilled for her. SO SHUT THE EFF UP!! And by the way, we all did a little jump for joy when Sam didn?t get into any Ivies?.</p>
<p>Some of you will not like this one.</p>
<p>To certain Asian parents: For years, you've been trying to discourage your kid from associating with my kid -- just because she isn't Asian and therefore you could never be sure whether she was serious about academics. Well, guess what? She got into an academic magnet program, just like your kid. She has an A average, just like your kid. She's a National Merit Finalist, just like your kid. And she's going to a top college, just like your kid. If you had ever looked at her as an individual, you would have realized that she wasn't going to corrupt your kid by setting an example of academic sloth; she has always been your kid's academic peer. But you could never see beyond the green eyes and the brown hair.</p>
<p>OH MY GOD YOU ARE SO FREAKING ANNOYING!!!!!</p>
<p>ok honey, I'm coming to bed now! :D</p>
<p>to the teachers who said academic 'doors are closed' to my son when he was 10. why don't you just look at him now!!</p>
<p>(To younger daughter) Please don't continue to ask me if you can invite friend "X" over to play. We've never had headlice in our home, and I'd like to keep it that way (sorry, but twice in one semester makes me a bit nervous) :(</p>
<p>OK, I'll skip the details, but I would just like to say, I told you so! to many, many people.</p>
<p>To the h.s. musical theater director, you cast for political reasons and everyone in town knew it. Your judgment was poor when you made girls wear embarassing chorus-girl costumes at age 14. You gave my kids one-line roles right through senior year, when their talent qualified them for lead roles in local community theater shows. As a juror in Twelve Angry Men, you staged my kid seated, with his back to the audience, for the entire production while the other eleven faced the crowd. I'm holding some complimentary tickets to my eldest's next off-broadway show but I'm not sending you any. When my D tours next June multi-city, I'm not going to put you on my email list. You cast to pay back faculty favors and to please powerful parents in town, but you left out a few who are now professional. You have a POOR eye for talent, and you also shouldn't have kept out that black student from playing a villager in Fiddler.</p>
<p>People in high school: See? I did manage to make something of myself.</p>
<p>Teacher in middle school who said I'd never do math at a college level: I've probably done math at a higher level than you did to become a math teacher. Stuff it.</p>
<p>Freaked out people on this site: Calm down. Life will go on, and you'll all rock. Seriously, stop worrying so much.</p>
<p>To everyone who's made comments through the years about how it's been easier on me because I have only one child. 1.) Mortgage is same whether I have one or a dozen. 2.)I would've liked to have more, initially, but was unable to after surgery at age 26. 3.) I've been a single parent AKA ONE INCOME. You have two incomes and 2-3 kids, but only one mortgage. 4.)Bet you wish you drove my car that had 216K miles on it before I had to retire it (note facetiousness) - and I see you getting a new one every couple of years. Yeah, I moved my kid to a private school that would challenge her and acknowledge her existence - unlike the public school in the neighborhood that told me when she was in 1st grade that "we don't want to create a Doogie Howser" when her IQ had to be extrapolated because it was off your chart and that in third grade on the first day of school didn't have her in a class because "somebody told us you'd moved." Thanks for bothering to try calling me to see. It felt really awesome for my 7 yr old to think the school didn't want her on the first day. </p>
<p>To my child's father - why are you surprised you have no relationship with her and mad that she doesn't want you at her graduation? When she lay dying in the hospital and she begged you to stay overnight, you told her you had to go home for pizza because it was your birthday and then you and your wife spent $$, time, for in vitro even though you weren't sure you're existing child was going to survive. Oh, and thanks for contributing not one dime to her schooling, ECs, college apps, not giving her Christmas presents, anything for her 18th birthday a few months ago, etc. because you were mad that she wasn't excited about the pregnancy BECAUSE SHE WAS TOO DARN ill to get out of bed -sick enough to miss a year and 1/2 of school, not be able to graduate with her original friends, etc. You're right - she was so self-absorbed, unlike her dad. <rolling eyes=""></rolling></p>
<p>lspf72...ok...here's what <em>I</em> would have really wanted to say...to the parents of the kid with the headlice. "We would love to have your child over but the last two times she brought headlice with her."</p>
<p>Countdown
You've been thru so much, my sympathies.
My S & bio-FA wouldn't recognize each other. I'd like to know just how hard it would have been to send a b/d card, or Xmas/Hannukah gift, or a congrats about college.</p>
<p>These comments are making me really sad. Reading your posts, I can't believe people could be that unkind to one another. I am so sorry that so many of you have had such bad experiences. Countdown's Begun - You must be so proud of your D. I don't blame her for not wanting her dad at her graduation.</p>
<p>To that biological child of my relative:
I just decided to edit out my description of how you've broken his heart, but I'll leave you with the bottom line.</p>
<p>Three strikes, you're out, hon.</p>