PTA Mum acting entitled at school nativity

[nutcrackered]

I've been thinking about this and wondered if AIBU for thinking pta mum is a cf or if she is.

Wednesday morning was my child's first nativity (reception age). It was in the school hall. Ticketed and people had been queuing outside in the bitter cold for a really long time before it started. The school didn't let anybody in until the minute it said on the ticket.

Nativity started at 9.15 which is when people went inside. People were queuing so I'm told from about 8.10am. By 8.25 there was quite a bit of a que already. One of the other mums who I have seen organising a lot of pta things arrived at about 8.30 with her husband and walked right past everybody else in the que and went inside. When we all went in they were sat on the front row and looked like they had been for some time, I don't know what makes them so special that they don't have to wait like the other parents,
AIBU to think this is so rude and entitled?

@motherrunner On the morning performance of our school nativity one boy with ASD really struggled, in the afternoon his mum was able to attend and sat in a reserved seat in the front row and he focused on her. For him, she was the only person in the room and he outperformed every other child, it brought tears to my eyes then and now.

But yes, some parents will queue for an hour, race to the front and complain when they are told they need to sit in row 2.

Lol op ho ho ohhhhh 🙄

I don't volunteer but of course if you help out, you're going to get some perks.

That's the way of the world.

As for standing outside in the 'bitter cold' - it's the UK, not Alaska, calm down.

YABU there are very few perks for all the work the PTA does.

She had probably helped put out the chairs to were all sitting on and the tea/coffee/mince pies. If you help, you get to sit at the front. Nothing wrong with that.

Lol I’d channel your efforts and mental energy into something more positive for yourself and children OP instead of fuzzing your head with this lunacy 🤗

6lfeel sorry for her. She has no other life. Feminism seems to have been stopped in 1987, I didn't receive the memo and still have a life, a career and little investment in sitting through a fairly tedious event which means missing actual work.

I remember at my own child’s nativity parents queuing for an hour to bag front row seats. Had to laugh when all they ran out of chairs for people at the back so made a new line of chairs in front of the first row. I thought there was going to be a murder that day

I don't know what makes them so special that they don't have to wait like the other parents

But she’s not like the other parents, is she? She’s giving up her free time to get involved in something that sounds utterly tedious. You, and every other parent in the queue, have been either unable or unwilling to do the same. You can’t have it both ways.

I was Chair of the PTA and a governor throughout both primary and secondary school. I was always offered a front row seat at events but if it was something that my child was in I refused and queued up like everyone else and made it clear that I was there as a parent, not as a governor.

Governor, member of the PTA committee and active person on it for 3 years now... I queue up with the rest of 'em - no perks in our school! I've gone in as a volunteer to wrangle costumes and children into costumes etc and not even got in the front row that way!

I get the option to attend some school events parents might not usually get to attend because of the governor thing (usually "fun" events linked to my curriculum areas) and if I wanted I could have gone and watched the year groups' not linked with my kids nativities too... but that's about it really.

Incidentally - neither kid has ever had a star role in the play - one was permanently a narrator as she's got a loud clear voice and the other one is usually one of a group of kids to scaffold her saying her lines as she has a speech delay. Surprisingly I don't do any of the stuff I do because of that - I do it because it's a fantastic school, they do miracles for the kids and the staff are utterly superb and I want to support that.

I see it's PTA hate and stereotypes on here period at the moment.

I volunteer for the PTA. Yesterday I was preparing the room for the school fete and had to put out all the chairs as parents were arriving. Everyone who walked in sat on the chairs I was in the process of putting out...I sat on the last row! 🤣🤣🤣

Well good on her for getting a perk. I am on the pta and have given up hours for the school, I have missed school events with my own children because I am busy helping it run so I could understand why someone would use a perk to get a front row seat.

Well she obviously has a role.

I was at my child’s school this week helping sell raffle tickets and refreshments for the PTA. I was there
Tuesday morning, Wednesday morning, Wednesday evening, Thursday morning, Thursday at 2, Thursday at 6
Damn right I reserved a front row seat for my child’s performance ( before rushing to the back to help tidy away, wash up, sort the raffle and not get home until 8)
I volunteer and enjoy it so I’m no martyr but it is one small perk we get

Absolutely she was entitled. I suggest you sign up and help with the organising and running of some of the major PTA events so you can see just how many hours of work is involved. As others have said, I don't get to spend any time with my kids at the fun events as I am running around like a crazy woman sorting stuff out, making sure everything is running smoothly. I'd love to know how many hours I've spent on PTA duties over the last 5 years. And yes I also have a job.
Front row seats at the nativity play is a small reward. She's probably spent equivalent time out in the cold running a cake sale, as you did queuing to get in.

Why don't you volunteer on the PTA?

Yes, they would have been helping and probably put a lot of hard work into organising it behind the scenes. Maybe helping with refreshments etc.
If they went in early to help with a few last minute preparations then it's only right they get first choice of seats, and it would be unreasonable to expect them to opt for a back seat.

@nachthexe Yes!

I’m a first year mum and I can see what a thankless task the pta is. Plus everyone moans so much about organisation etc, just constant whinging! I’m going to join next year and see them whinge to my face (yeah right)

You’re all mental queuing from that time. Mental

The vitriol directed at PTA members on MN and in real life can be shocking. Given the nastiness directed at them, I’m amazed that people are willing to do it. Generally people who volunteer in the community are appreciated and thanked but different rules seem to apply for PTA volunteers. IMO her unpaid work for the school means she deserves a front row seat once in a while.

Goodness YABVVVVVU. And ungrateful. Step up to the plate yourself if this is so important to you.

Some people are like this. They do it at ours and it's so precious but try not to get wound up. I just laugh...I stand at the back and it's often a better view than someone's head.

Our PTA has really dwindled in numbers recently. As an incentive for people to join, the chair suggested we were given reserved seats for concerts etc. We miss out on taking them to the fairs and seeing them perform in the summer events because we're running the stalls.
I was taking tickets and selling raffle tickets and heard some of the comments from the hardcore queue-ers who stand for over an hour to get front row seats and decided not to sit in my reserved seat. The same people who complain about every single event but never volunteer for anything.

I can’t believe you all seem to pay for tickets to see a nativity! 😳

We do not pay for tickets but I think it's a.good idea really. I know our school struggles for funding!