PTA (Parents to Avoid).

Hey readers,

When my son started school I came across the PTA (a parenting teaching association) not to be confused my parents to avoid the acronym

though very tempting!

Basically, what it means is that willing parents join this group to talk and discuss issues regarding school. They involve teachers and some parents which allows them to have a fairer and less biased view to voice opinions etc.

I have found that there is a lot of favouritism involved with parents of the PTA. The children get more mentions in assembly,  the winners of the raffle tend to be mainly the PTA parents or staff and generally it just feels like a cliché where they have the upper hand.

I kind of get irritated by the fact that they sell ice lollies or biscuits after school. I object to this because I feel that it is forced pressure for the parents to buy things, especially when you can't get out the gate without your child clocking the stand. 

Then you have to deal with the constant pestering from your child to buy something. I also find the message of healthy eating that the school try to promote external services a bit pointless when they sell junk food after school.  

It does seem pointless trying to encourage healthy eating when you can't consist with the stuff you do within school.

I have been so skint before that I just didn't have the cash to spare and the guilt/embarrassment of saying out loud to your child you do not have the money is just wrong.

It makes you feel crap as a parent and causing conflict on the way home when no parent can be arsed to deal with that. 

Nothing is more stressful with dealing with an argumentative child when you have to deal with trying to get them home tired in the first place. It just means that the child is grumpier it is double the stress, which is really not needed.

I hate social pressure and appears that PTA feeds of this.  All they seem to do is try and make money in raffles or whatnot. 

I just don't like the idea that money seems to be the main concern. I don't like that fact that it represents parents and gives some parents more control and possibly influences teachers.

I just don't see the point in PTAs. The goal is to get the fullest co-operation from home to school. I don't want to know if it means stressing over money and the waste of time of having to do mind-numbing boring stuff when I could be at home sitting on my fat arse drinking a brew.

 I suppose it is ok if it is your thing but I just hate the constant pressure. I certainly wouldn't trust PTA, they appear to have too much time on their hands and tend to make us other parents feel lower than them.  This is my experience anyway, could be totally different somewhere else.

Cheers for reading X