To hate school sports day and not want to go?

[FlyMeToDunoon]

This will be my fifth sports day and I know what it will be like.
I will arrive, slightly stressed and late having prised DDs 2 and 3 away from DVD of Kipper/Baby Bratz/The Lord of The Rings [at a scary bit. 'Who the @*^ put this on?]
Front two rows at the edge of the sports field will be populated by the PTA mafia with folding chairs, coffee, sunshades, cameras and immaculate DCs
It will be blazing sunshine in which case I will have forgotten my sunglasses and will get a headache.
Or it will be drizzling in which case I will have forgotten an umbrella and DDs raincoats.
DD1's class will be running in the last event which is in two hours time.
But I won't know that because nobody tells you these things.
DD's 2 and 3 will spend their time asking for drinks, food, sweets anything really that I haven't got.
DD3 will invade the field at least 3 times.
DD1 will come last and cry and come running across the field to me.
Can I stay at home please?

At least you know exactly what to expect. Just accept it as part of the summer season!

We don't have to go at secondary-so you have something to look forward to!

Yanbu. I remember going to older dd's school events (especially assemblies) with younger dc in tow and blimey yes, it was stressful. I used to feel like a human vending machine of toys and snacks and amusements.

It's ok now they're all older. The problem I have with the juniors sports day now is that I have no earthly idea what is going on.

It's the sporting equivalent of Numerwang. So over complicated with heats and teams and it just goes on and on and on for hours (literally) while I end up cheering anything and everyone in the end.

At ours the PTA will be flogging overpriced ice creams lollies,buns (which we will of course have to have baked)The children will all want everything and £10 will be spent in no time.There will be a raffle which we will have had to donate prizes to,buy tickets for and of course win nothing or something you don't like.
The alpha mummies will hog the front rows and will have brought strawberries,glasses and a bottle of fizz to share between themselves and anyone else within a big enough house/landrover/bank balance.

Wow you have strawberries and fizz at sports days?? Crikey..I am impressed

This year I will endure sports days for pre school, KS1 and KS2. The only saving grace is I can leave KS1 early, as DS1 has a hospital appointment but DD will be devastated as how over long I stay for I am bound to miss her race.

now sports day I do happily. ( tis the summer fair I can't stand lol).

but we have the field laid out with different events.. and the groups of children move to the event.. and the parents follow round.. which stops all the front row hogging.

why not pack a picnic.. and the strawbs and fizz sound lovely.. lay some pinic rugs down..and take drawings and such for the little ones to do... in fact why not get together with some of the beta mums and make it an outing!

Oh yes I agree,I loathe sports day.This year I've lucked out as DS has asked me to come much later than I'd planned - so he'll be happy.I'll be happy... And yes,it will either be blazingly hot,we will all dehydrate and get overheated as the tiny amount of shade is earmarked for reception children(fair enough),or it will be freezing cold,and possibly thunder or blow a gale(Drizzle,FlyMeToDunoon?? Nope,not here - it's all or nothing IME...)

Aw I kind of miss it really now DD is at secondary. She never won anything but seemed to enjoy herself anyway.

Think yourself lucky if there isn't a Mums' race! When DD was in pre-school they had one. I had no intention of entering but the organizers sneakily got the kids to run into the crowd and bring their Mums' back so it was hard to say no. I managed not to disgrace myself by staying a respectable middle of the field but was astonished how many parents seemed to take it seriously. There was also a Dad's race and I will swear one guy had his running spikes on!

YANBU if its badly organised.

DDs school does the same sort of thing as BCNS for infants, and for the juniors (a) gets most of the 'field' events out of the way before the day so its not too long and (b) has a programme so you know when your kids are on and therefore when you can safely natter to other parents.

They also seem to manage to be thoroughly competitive without anyone bursting into tears or feeling excluded. Some of the events are team cumulative jumps or javelin throwing (foam javelins I hasten to add!

As to the sun/rain - sports days are the clearest example of Billy Connolly's adage 'theres no such thing as bad weather only inappropriate clothing'. YABU to complain about that with all your experience!

Hello just back in.
Well I am contemplating, with my years of experience a full on beta mums picnic.
I shall start making a list now.
Lets see
12 bottles Magners
6 bottles of Diamond White
4 KFC Family buckets
25 Greggs sausage rolls
Fruit shoots all round.
Hehe maybe save that scenario until my last Sports Day in eh.....9years.
9 years of Sports days to go sob!

Gets a grip and resolves to make proper list including sunglasses, kagouls, umbrellas, sun cream, snacks, games, drawing materials, drinks, running shoes-[yes we do have a mums race] [note: start training now!]

can I sit with you, FlyMe???

This thread has made me feel SO much better. I am dreading sports day. I shall actually feel happier when I go knowing that others feel the same! I just can't wait to get it over. You never know what you're going to like or hate as a parent, do you - thought I'd love this sort of thing. But the Alpha PTA coupled with the agony of helping DS cope with falling over/defeat is just an emotional cocktail!!!!!!

good luck, all.

G&T in 'healthy' looking water bottle?
Hic!

I didn't dread ds's sports day, but having seen it I will dread the next one. It said to bring lunch so I brought sandwiches and a flask of tea - other people had platters of sushi and wine. There were many parents who brought running spikes for the 100m parents race. There were lots of women in immaculate white trousers (how on earth did they manage that on a field) and designer shades.

My advice is to load up the boot of the car now with sunscreen/umbrellas/teddy bears/snacks/drinks.

Whenever I dread a school event I am always shamed and humbled by how excited ds is about it.

sushi?!?!?!

oh jeez

Saw this thread title and assumed you must be a teacher

My DS's school has abandoned the parents' race because they got too competitive and unpleasant.

But I still had to be there for FIVE HOURS to watch 120 kids do 4 activities each and be ignored by the Pimms-drinking Alpha Mums during the hour-long picnic break...

Eek maybe mine isn't too bad then.
Sushi!

DS's is reputed to be serious competitive picnicking territory, but it has been too blooming cold both years so far. Weather forecast looks good this year [eek]

Maybe sushi isn't too shocking in a NZ context - we eat sushi all the time - all the shopping malls would have 2 or 3 sushi places. I just think that spending $30-40 on a lunch when you could have put a piece of (nice) ham between two bits of bread is excessive.

Whereas here it's M&S sushi.

Had a chuckle at this post.
Am so glad my youngest is at school, do not miss having to cart everything but the kitchen sink around with me at all times.

I hate DS's school sports day because no-one notes down who wins because 'it's the taking part that matters'. What's the point in having a sports day for parents to attend when there's no incentive for the children to try? They may as well all just saunter along picking their noses if if it doesn't matter a damn if they come first or sixth. It's basically just a PE lesson with an audience and it fecks me right off.

Oooh yes the mums race.Everybody seems to run in the village where I live and the Mums and Dads race are made out to be a bit of fun (rubbish) they are SO competitive and people actually remember who won every year.

I used to love my dad running in the dads race.. he was a PTI and would win every year LOL.. I was sooo proud