Why Do Some Parents Ignore the Rules?

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One of my friends took it upon herself to organize our school’s Take A Special Person To Lunch day. It’s a unique and fun 1-week program for our students to invite that special someone to have lunch with them at school. The rules were quite clear: the special person had to be over 18 years of age (basically an adult, no younger siblings), there was one particular day assigned to each class, and the special someone could either buy lunch from the school cafeteria or brown bag it.

Pretty simple, right?

Well, last year was the first year she planned this and it went very well. Kids and teachers were happy and the parents/adults who participated enjoyed the event, even if it was a quick 20 minute lunch period.

This year, the response was quite a bit different and because of a few parents who thought they were above following the rules, the program may not happen next year.

The rules were the same and even though we may not agree with rules in general, rules are created with a specific purpose in mind! Apparently there were many parents who came with younger children in tow, parents who brought McDonald’s or pizza with them, and still others who came on the wrong day and expected the still sit with their student.

I also heard stories from both parents and teachers alike about children who ended up in tears because they thought their special person was coming but they were held up at work/meeting/traffic.

Our school has 530 kids and of course they don’t all eat together but it’s still crowded when the tables are put down and boy, is it loud! Adding younger siblings to the mix just makes things even louder with more potential to have spills and accidents if they want to run around.

No one ever felt they had to specify “No McDonald’s/pizza/fast food” because it was clearly stated to purchase at the school or bring a brown bag. The particular reason was to avoid hurt feelings and envy and the inevitable “How come Johnny got McDonald’s and I didn’t?” Never mind the fact that pizza boxes take up a whole lot of room at crowded tables.

And the reason my friend spread out the days among the classes was to also avoid overcrowding. Having 3-4 classes at lunch plus a parent for nearly every child would have put our capacity at almost 200 people. Too much for our school gym/cafeteria/auditorium.

I’m not sure what my friend will do next year, except maybe hand over the event to someone else. There was talk about making the rules more clear but how on earth can you do that? There were only 3 simple rules to start with! It’s really such a shame that a few selfish parents are potentially ruining this for the kids.

And what kind of example are those parents teaching to their kids? Are the kids then above following the rules?

That’s another post for another day…