Advice needed - love DDs school, dislike all the parents

[queenqueenqueen]

I'm sure I'm going to get flamed for posting this but I really dislike the large majority of the parents at my DD school, she's only been there for one year and it's now getting towards the end of reception year.

I feel like I've made a big effort across the year, PTA meetings, helped at Xmas fair, mums night out, but I still feel like I stick out like a sore thumb and just really don't fit in. I'm kind of gutted because I wanted so much to be a part of my DDs school life. I know it might not be everyone's cup of tea and I often read posts on here with people saying that it's best to take a step back from the playground mom stuff but I actually did want to join in with the Christmas fairs, summer fairs etc since we made the decision for me to take a break from work, so I do have the time to help out with these things. I've gone to PTA meetings and had all my ideas sniffed at, just got the "we've done that before it didn't work" type responses.

Basically would you just say give up as I am fighting a losing battle?? Feeling fed up, any advice appreciated.

[clary]

yeah op, as Teen and others say, you need to keep at it. Maybe PTFA mums are already mates eg have older children (I have three DC and was mist friendly at primary with parents of DD's year, my middle one). And yes, every year on the pta you get people with great ideas they are not prepared to run or organise, or ideas we know won't work (quiz nights for example). that said, PTAs can be a pain "oh no we've always done it this way", sometimes you need to stick it out and you'll be that person in a year or so 😀

[PantsyMcPantsface]

It's taken me a bit longer than a year to really get anywhere near integrated with the parents at school. Really seemed to click this year, but there are still parents at the gate who dislike me or view me as not "posh" enough for the area (I have a strong regional accent which I believe is my "crime") - it's their prerogative to have opinions on me and I long since stopped giving a shit.

Our PTA this year has been a pain the arse for spending 3/4 of the meetings coming up with really labour intensive ideas and then it all going tits up and have needed reining in several times with a "look, we're low on numbers this year - I think we need to stick to what works and keep that idea on the back burner for future"... we're right in the middle of rebuilding because a lot of the old core have left the school.

Sometimes you DO just know something that sounds great won't work, or you've been burnt by people throwing huge ideas into the works and then not chipping in to make them happen. There are great PTA ideas on here sometimes that work well for many posters' schools... but they just do not work well with the resources, or layout, or facilities, or parents for our own particular school and we've tried or investigated them and know that this is the case.