To have judged about half of my daughters class

[fernie3]

Or their parents that is. They are 6 and they came home with a letter saying could we cut the labels off foods so that the children wouod make a map of where the food they eat came from....with the implication being that they needed to bring a little bunch each as they were going to have their own maps.

So i spent a week peeling labels off things which looked interesting for her to take, she came home that day and she had only had one label to stick on her map because the teacher had had to share her labels out to people that didn't bring any - so that means at least 10 children hadn't brought any at all.

Now I know it's stupid and petty and maybe i just have label rage from spending so long trying to peel labels off jars without ripping them or making the writing hard to read but it's not that hard is it just cut out a label or two and drop it in the book bag...

The teacher couldn't have done the original plan without the labels and the children get the message that it's optional to do these things.

AIBU to feel a bit judgey?

I am a teacher BTW. My children are well aware of the importance I place on education.

'Sometimes parents forget - and if either of my dds have to take things in on a Monday we nearly always forget.'

You need to be more organised then.
Dh and I both work ft and still manage to remember the stuff dd needs for school.
Buy a planner, make a list fgs

Ime the parents who 'don't have time for this silly stuff' are really just badly organised and can't prioritise.

Op yanbu
It's always the same parents making an effort, and the same ones who -can't- -be- -arsed- forget

silly activity to not have back up plan for.

i do agree that the teacher should have had enough labels for exactly this reason.

I'll bet your daughter felt chuffed to have been able to help so many children in her class.

I don't think YABU, however at DS's school the teacher would have brought in a load just incase.
The parets are pretty good though but there are always the same 1 or 2 whonever bother to do any outside school stuff, it is very sad to see the same little girls coming in time after time either in a schhol uniform on NSUD, or without a box or without 20p....

Other paretns may have many other children of younger ages, maybe even babies to care for as well as a 6 y.o. They may have a job too and a million other things that take precedence over spending a week (a week!!) peeling labels off things and painstakingly peeling them off jars without ripping them or making the writing hard to read at that!

It's also very likely that 10 6 year olds either forgot or didn't bother to take the letter home.

So yes YABU.

I agree that she was foolish to rely on the goodwill of parents, even though it's an activity from the QCA geography scheme. So it must have worked in some schools with more actively involved parents.

Sounds to me that there was a back-up, everyone made a map and the stickers were an extra addition. All these prim comments about 'oo she should have had a back up plan' - you know nothing about it.

Exactly tusalina, my ds's class had to dress up for harvest festival and luckly all of them did but it must feel awful for the child who's parents 'forgot'. Like i keep saying there is genuine reasons like if a child returning after illness, family problems etc but for a parent that couldnt be bothered it is a shame.

All of the parents would have had the letter because it was handed out as the teacher handed over the children at the end if the day.
Sundew - I am not organised at all and i don't think I implied that i was perfect just but surely half of the parents in the class can't be so busy that they cant spare 2 minutes a day to cut a label out? Is anyone actually THAT busy? Also obviously some people would forget but I don't think that half of the class would the majority if them just didn't do it.

Goblinchild - The teacher is maybe 30? I would say slightly older than me I have no idea how long she has been teaching we only moved here in the summer so we have only known her. a few weeks,

In 2shoes defence (hope you don't mind 2shoes), she has a severely disabled child and does in fact have more important priorities. So perhaps those of you slating her about getting her priorities straight and her life organised should be grateful that food labels may be the biggest worry in your day.

YANBU. Mistakes or forgetting could account for a couple of people, but when it's virtually the whole class, that doesn't make sense at all.

I also don't buy the line about not having enough time to do something like this. It doesn't take much time just to take off one or two labels and yes, it is poor organisation on the part of the parents/carers.

It's a bit :( for your DD fernie3 that she was the only one who had the stuff that was needed, but at least she was able to help out her classmates!

'Other paretns may have many other children of younger ages, maybe even babies to care for as well as a 6 y.o. They may have a job too and a million other things that take precedence over spending a week (a week!!) peeling labels off things and painstakingly peeling them off jars without ripping them or making the writing hard to read at that!'

That was me 13 years ago. Never mind, all that sticky nonsense will be done through the IWB soon. No more glue or first-hand stuff, all research done on the internet. Labels clicked and dragged to the right point.
Printed out and perfect.

fernie i agree, even if teh child has only 1 label to contribute it is a huge difference from being the child with nothing to contribute. 1 label is not hard to do even if you remember at breakfast time on monday morning. i also check my son's bag for letters and ask him if he was given any, everyday.

YABU. Where on earth are you supposed to put all these labels when you are collecting them.

And mist of the stuff we have (apart from tins of baked beans don't have labels on anyway.

A1980 I have four young children 6,3,1 and 9 weeks I also help my husband run his business - I kind of resent the implication that i have nothing else to occupy my time. Of course i didn't stand by the sink all week peeling off labels I just did it when i found one.

That teacher is marking you down as a good'un fernie3.

What about those parents who don't collect their dcs from school? Things regularly go missing between ds leaving school and me collecting him some hours later at after school care. I would have to check with the school, the bus company and the after school care site to track it down (assuming I knew about it in the first place).

Peeling 1 or 2 labels from food packaging a day is hardly a full time job

'sorry but children learn their attitudes from their parents and if a parent or parents teach the child that their school work is not a priority to them (the parent) tehn teh child believes it isn't a priority for tehm either. not a good message tosend your children.'

Agree with this completely

That wasn't clear from your original post fernie but GFY.

where are you suppose to put them? school bag,the house, the car, your handbag, ask your dc to keep them 'safe' for school. Like you said you had a tin of beans not hard to take the label of is it?

annie, with respect to 2shoes, and as much as i understand that she has more important things to be worrying about, it still does not make this excercise "silly stuff". just because it is not registering on her list of priorities does not mean teh rest of us shouldn't even try.

What does it matter MollieO, you don't eat any foods with labels.
How do you keep track of homework, bump letters, party invites?
Does your school subscribe to parentmail?

I don't think I was all that prim - basic good practice not to rely entirely on the students providing resources for the success of lesson. Did say it had happened to me, it is a learning curve. Would be unfair to other teachers to suggest that teachers usually don't have a back up plan, most do. That would set my mind at ease if I was a parent who sometimes forgets (who won't at one time or another). Bit like thoroughly packing a baby bag with more than enough spare nappies, which many of us have forgotten to do at least once but wouldn't suggest, I imagine, is best practice for parents (speaks as one who had to improvise a nappy a few weeks ago - not to be repeated and that was even with it remaining unfilled .