What happened in the last 20 years, that has turned formerly simple things to GIANT, OVERPLANNED, OVERDONE, MANDITORY extravaganzas?
For one thing, I am the room mom for two of my kids classes. One was voluntary, the other was guilt motivated. I DO appreciate my teachers, I TELL them so. I help in class where I can....and I think that teacher appreciation week is a nice idea. Cards from kids...good. The class gift...once upon a time, you could do this if you WANTED to. Now, its forced on the room moms to beg and plead with the other parents to contribute to a class gift.
Now, this week includes 4 planned lunches (one of which I have to plan), flower day, bead day, organizing a basket to auction off, organizing people to man a tatoo/cotton candy booth....
The same goes for church. Every activity has morphed formerly simple get togethers into major events. Girls camp is just one of the many examples of activities gone huge.
Now, its turned into a Super Bowl of planning, stress, crafts, tshirts, themes, stress, matching doo-dads, and more stress.
I feel so much for the leaders who have to plan these events, all the while, maintaing their own family and sanity! "Bye family, see you around August...."
Who's to blame? Certainly, none of us woke up one morning wondering how we could make our lives more complicated and draining. It happened when NO ONE was looking.
I blame us women. Yup, we are overachievers. And the internet. Blame it on global warming, or blame it on the commercials where people dance around with Swiffer products.
I LIKE doing nice things. I LIKE being helpful. I APPRECIATE the work and effort that goes into things like fundraising, school, church, etc.
Helping can make me feel JOYFUL. But, I just wonder sometimes if the original intent is lost on all the hoopla...
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11 comments:
Here Here! Nuff said!
Yep. At first I thought this was a post about how weddings can get entirely out of control! Because what you said can completely apply. Not only are there bridezillas nowadays, but mom-of-bridezillas, because it's all a show of status (and living vicariously through their daughters)!! haha.
One reason why I like the 4th year hike so much. No messing with all that girly stuff. But I'm also not the frilly type. I think some women thrive on putting together that kind of thing, and I'm not one of them.
I'll get in trouble here too. Most of those knick nacks that my leaders gave me as a YW ended up in the trash. Sometimes less is more and causes less stress on the leaders of the activities.
Amen.
AMEN SISTA!
I'm going to have to restrain myself, because I'm a YW leader who's going to camp this year. I can't say anything that'll get me into trouble. But just between you & me- what happened to the CAMP part? All the other hoopla drives me crazy.
And nobody had better even TRY to get me to volunteer for something like a "tattoo/cotton candy booth." What? Whatever happened to good old fashioned homemade bake sales?
Dont get me wrong, I like the extras that make things special. I just know from my OWN experience that in a calling, or volunteering, whatever was done LAST time, you HAVE to do...PLUS this and that, etc....
And you look around, and ask yourself how did we get here?
I grew up in an area where everything was extravagant (there was NO such thing as a simple church activity), so I suppose that's why I fight it. I always overplan, and then start trimming about half of the things. I often think "what's the maximum outcome I can get for minimum effort?"...
I was wondering where you've been... now I know!
Wow, you could really learn alot about me right here. But I'll just say one thing, I have learned to keep my mouth shut. ;-)
Interesting post. I like it. I think your last line says it all.
If the "Hoopla" is enhancing the message, or the intent of the event, then I think it's worth it.
But I think it's easy to get so caught up in the details and "extra stuff" that we can actually convolute the point, or miss it entirely.
Or even worse...if the "frills" are intended to mask the fact that there is no substance to the event, (or content to a lesson) then it's time to change things around.
As Ashlie said, "AMEN!!!"
I'll go with Anna, saying you could learn a lot about me with my tongue let loose here, so I'll keep my mouth shut this time...I'm still learning to do that.
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