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10:41 a.m. - 2005-12-21
Christmas Chaos
So yesterday at the after school program where I work, they informed us about 5 minutes before it began that we were having a holiday party with the kids' families.

Their parents were invited and some actually came. The sad thing is that the families who did not show up for mandatory, scheduled parent-teach conferences did manage to show up, with last minute notice for free food. Sigh.

The kids were out of control. Crazy. They refused to follow directions. They pushed each other. There were several scuffles over places in line, etc. We tried hard to manage the situation, only letting one table of people go up at a time. One teacher was at the food line helping the really little ones, and stopping kids from taking two plates of food. Then, of course, several parents took two plates of food for temselves, which of course prevented them from helping their five years old carry his plate, which of course resulted in food being slopped all over the floor, which, when paired with crazy children running aorund, resulted in several wipe-outs, clothing stains, bruises and crying fits.

And I haven't even mentioned the dessert table yet. Slicing and handing out cake and other dessert treats was like handing out pennies on a street in Calcutta. You would have thought these kids were starving....meanwhile most of the time they barely eat. But the food was pretty good...lasagne, mac & Cheese, Fried chicken, etc. I was kind of managing the dessert table, cutting, dishing out the various sugar concoctions...and they were like vultures. It was actually a little disturbing. Shoving each other out of the way, kids tyring to take ten cookies at a time....full fledged tantrums over not getting "the green kind" as opposed to "the red kind" of snack cake. The place looked like a war zone afterward. I mean they were just throwing cake on the floor when they were done with it. There were huge puddles of Kool-Aid underneath the big dispensers. At one point, a dad came over to get a drink where I was standing, and he proceeded to fill his cup up, and then over-fill it, causing a lot of spillage, jerking the cup back, sloshing more over the side, saying "whoops" and walking away from it. And we wonder where they learn it. It was total chaos. We all just gave up trying to keep things civil and resigned ourselves to the fact that 1. their parents did not seem to care to control them. and 2. we'd just have to clean it all up when it was over. I've never seen so much chocolate icing on a linoleum floor.

On the upside, I have to say some of the kids were just so excited. It is truly amazing how a little holiday spirit, a few decorations and a tiny bit of "formality" can make something seem really exciting. Despite the craziness, a Christmas sweater-clad first grader with cake icing smeared all over a big smile is pretty freaking cute.

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