Chaperoning is Scary!

Simone's class went on a field trip and I had volunteered to be a chaperone.  Well ... I tried to be a chaperone, but really couldn't because I had Max with me and I really couldn't be watching the kids as well as a solo mom could.  But I tried to help anyway and found out that field trips are not fun for the adults.   Wrangling just 14 kids in one classroom is tough, but multiple groups of 5- and 6-year-olds in a large, public space such as the Children's Museum is downright horrific.

from top left corner going clockwise:
Nicole, Jasmine, Kaylynn, Simone, Amonye, Emiylah, Tyler, Fredo
Aidan, Zion, Mia, Logan, Eamon, Jimmy Paul.

The energy that the kids have on a school day in which they do not have to attend school makes them pay even less attention to persons of authority. Compound this with the fear of losing a hyper child in a sea of other children and you have an experience you never want to volunteer for.

Max didn't help any because he couldn't grasp the concept yet that, on a field trip, there is limited time to spend at a limited amount of exhibits.  He is used to going wherever he wants and exploring to his and his sister's hearts' content.  He was devastated when he couldn't visit the sand area and thus started increasing his whining and tantrums.  I promised him that we would return to the museum when it wasn't a field trip.

Despite my horror, I think field trips are great for the kids!  I remember loving them and all the anticipation and excitement leading up to the trip.  The pictures below will illustrate how much fun Simone and her classmates had.  However, I am through with volunteering as a chaperone.  That is some tough work!

Rock Scissors Papers  is the latest game rage of the 1st grade.

Glazier Museum's latest exhibit is about dinosaurs!

This was a really cool exhibit!  The kids could "dig" for fossils
while dressed up as archaeologists

Oviraptors (the egg-thief dinosaurs)!  Naw, it's just Max and Simone
hiding out in a faux cave with their looted faux egg.

Lunchtime: I welcomed this break because the kids stayed in one visible spot!

The museum is very close to Michael's work so he decided to visit us all at lunchtime.  When I located Michael off in the distance, I was trying to wave to him to catch his attention.  Simone's teacher, Ms Whitley, asked me, "Girl?!  Who you waving to?  Who you know?"  I felt funny as if I was smuggling a fanboy into a VIP comic book post-convention party, but it all turned out ok.  I'm just a worry wart.  Maybe in the future I'll have chaperoned again and think of myself on this day as a such a nervous nelly.