This was a multi-class field trip, to two locations. Over 100 students, and in my brigade I personally had about 20 students to take care of (with the help of another parent, who had NEVER done another field trip EVER before). The sub had about 6 students at the first location, and 8 at the second. So, we really had the harder job of it all.
You can imagine my horror at discovering just how evil and bratty other people's kids can be without any supervision. They LOVE to test the rules and are constantly trying to piss people off. Some of those kids are actually RAISED to be little snots, and I'm sure their parents don't care. Mind you, I have been on almost every other field trip available to my oldest (my youngest hasn't been on any yet). I am used to kids acting up, and I can keep them entertained for a good while before I go insane. However, you always come across that one or two children in the group that you wish their parents would just smack some sense into. You know it will never happen, thus you put up with it until you are finally FREE of them.
In the end, for the first part we went to Willow Park. I go there all the time with my kidlets. It's a nice small, little park. Most of the animals were actually "out of exhibit"...so we spent most of the time looking at the ones that were really there. The little signs to explain the animals usually only say things like: "Indigenous to America for 20 years" and that's it. Not really informative. So, I put on my best Mommy face and did what I had to do.
I had to completely take over the field trip. The substitute teacher was letting them run wild. (She's really nice by the way) So, instead of reading the horrible little non-informative cards. I tried to remember facts about the animals or things we were seeing and pointed them out. I even had them make animal noises just for kicks. I think they had a lot of fun. Though I had to fork over about 10 dimes for people to feed the fish and ducks, the other parent and sub didn't even consider the kids might want to do that...good thing I had been here before and KNEW what to expect. I even joked with them about the "quicksand", and they all told me about zombies (boy, that's not a new conversation in my house).
Until we reached the playground, the only real problem we had with any of the kids was when we were moving from animal to animal. Some of the boys kept wanting to pick up sticks and hit each other with them. Boys will be boys, sure. But, not on my watch. You will NOT smack each other in the head with sticks while I am watching.
We did have a little girl named Lolah who kept pushing and fighting with the other little girls. She is a mean, cheerleader in the making. You know the type. If she's not trying to be a know-it-all, she is having to have her partner switched because she made the other little girl cry. She went through 5 different partners in less then an hour before she finally settled down.
I could already tell that we had three little asshole kids that were the ringleaders. So, I kept my eye on them as best as I could. One of the little bratties, I actually converted into a good kid by the end of the day. He even started calling me "teacher" nonstop. So cute. The other two were just a disaster from hell, and I'll get into that in a minute. This is actually not that surprising, as you always have those one or two kids that act like idiots...because at home, they get away with it. So, naturally, at school they think they can get away with it there too. Add on that we were missing the real teacher (she must be a saint to deal with these kids everyday), so they KNEW they could get away with some stuff.
We finally get to about lunch time, and one of the best perks of Willow Park is actually their playground. It's nice, clean, and a lot of fun to take kids to. I tried to warn all of the kids before we dispersed for our fun, to please be safe and respectful of the other students. I was actually really terrified they'd kill someone, on purpose.
Before I even get a chance to find a prime location to hang out, or stand, I am approached by three different students not even in my group. Apparently the boys were either purposely or not purposely stepping on other kids' fingers and hurting them. They were also playing see who can kick the other person the highest. I knew that if I didn't step in, things were going to go downhill fast.
So, I calmly and a little louder then usual (since there were like 100 kids making a ton of noise...), said exactly: "Please watch where you are putting your fingers and toes. Some other kids have been hurt. Let's be respectful of the other students." That was it. No cursing, didn't scream at them. Just made sure they heard me and then stood next to the other parent that was helping.
As I am standing there, I can hear two fat bitches (the first I'll call teal, and the other I'll call fatty) saying things like, "I hope she's not a teacher!" "She looks to be 15! She can't be a parent!" "How dare she say that to those kids!" I let it go, because these parents aren't even on the field trip...so I assume they will eventually stop their yapping. I had a job to do. Make sure none of the kids were killing themselves or getting lost.
We managed to lose a little girl from eyesight, but realized quickly she had taken her hair down...so we didn't recognize her immediately. LOL Our kids were actually having a ton of fun, hanging upside town, climbing trees (picking up sticks again), and generally being kids. There were no other major injuries after I had addressed the children. (For the time being...)
So, I'm hanging out while the other parent goes on a bathroom run with some of the kids. I get approached by another volunteer from another class. She is a grandmother. I will explain later why this is important, I just didn't know it at the time. She started asking me all of these weird personal questions, and after a while I just stopped responding. All she could really get out of me was that I was a parent, and that our teacher was absent today...so our kids are going a little crazy. She walked away mid-sentence from me, and was actually really cold in her demeanor. She didn't try to converse back, and she was definitely asking a lot of creepy questions that I just didn't respond to, or I just changed the topic on.
Later, the other parent comes back (thank god!), and I notice I am standing near Teal and Fatty again. I'm like god, why are they even here. I can't tell that they even have kids at the playground, by the way. I have not seen them move off their little bench once. It was a little weird, so I kept my eye on them.
The other parent nudges me (by then, I have filled her in on what happened with the grandparent and the other two women). Apparently Teal and Fatty ASKED the other grandparent to interrogate me. Yup, you heard that correctly. They asked another volunteer to do some espionage and spy on me. When the grandparent walks over to Teal and Fatty and starts to try to discuss me, I can obviously hear it. I am not happy, as this is fucking childish.
Obviously, my original opinion that they would stop their shit didn't work. They actually took it to a brand new level I had never been to before. I was livid, but I made sure that when I approached them that I was calm and didn't curse (kids around...). I calmly explained to them that I had simply asked the students to be safe and respectful of each other, and that I can hear them talking about me. That, I was indeed a parent volunteering, and I didn't appreciate some of the comments they were making. (Grandparent rolls her eyes and walks away within seconds of my explanation, still not sure WHO she was rolling her eyes at.)
As I go to walk away, thinking naturally that this is finally over with, Teal has the NERVE to continue speaking to me. She says, in her loudest and meanest voice: "You need to be quiet on the playground." I'm pretty sure I just looked at her like she was crazy. Here we are, with at least 100 students from the same school hanging out on a playground making a ton of racket...and I need to be quiet? Yeah, that's gonna happen.
As I am walking away, another kid walks up to me (from my class) and his tooth has been knocked out. He was kicked in the face by another kids in our class. So, I guess even telling them to cut it out didn't work. There was a lot of blood, and he hung onto his tooth for the rest of the field trip for the tooth fairy. We had tissues on us, so we plugged the newest hole in his mouth, and he was mostly fine for the rest of the day. I'm sure that hurt like a bitch though. But, hey, I should NEVER tell students to be careful with each other on the playground.
I immediately inform the substitute of what had occurred and who was involved, as the grandparent was also volunteering. As I am walking away from the substitute, the grandparent approaches me and apologizes. I'm unsure if she really meant her apology, but I don't really care and accept it. In the words of the other parent that was volunteering with me: "Some people just like to insert themselves into drama, and help make it worse then what it really is." She actually found those two women obnoxious, too.
I only told the substitute because the grandparent was involved. I'm fairly certain the substitute and the other teachers had a pow-wow about the incident later, as they were off to the side and I could hear my name plus "parent". I probably shouldn't of said anything. Next time, I won't say anything at all. I learned my lesson.
It turns out later that the grandparent was on my bus. I made sure to stare at her until she was uncomfortable a few times. I just felt like it was the only thing I should do. Did I do it more then once? Eh...maybe three times on the bus trip to the next place, and twice on the way back to the school at the end. I had more things to worry about...like a tooth being knocked loose and two terrors trying to kill each other in the back of the bus.
The second part of the field trip was to yet another place I have been to before with my kidlets. It was to the American West Heritage Center. When I had originally gone with the kidlets, we didn't really get to look at all of the nifty Mommy-history type of stuff. They pretty much just wanted to see the animals and ride the train. So, I took the backseat to this part of the field trip and listened to what everyone had to tell us.
We learned about where they stored wood, and all about a Granary. I made sure to take a lot of photos throughout the day, as I wanted to forwards them to their absent teacher and some of the other parents.
http://i.imgur.com/HBdzJqGs.jpg
That is an album of some of the cooler stuff we did. We learned about how a kitchen worked, how people lived back in the day (outhouses and everything), how to churn butter, how to grow veggies, and how to clean our laundry! We even saw the blacksmith make a cup holder! We all got to milk a goat too!
Overall, during the 2nd part of our trip the other parent had to pull aside her kidlet to give a stern warning to and one of the terrors was still in our group...so we kept an eye on him. According to the terror, he hated being on the field trip because he'd rather be playing video games. So, his acting like a snot and treating his partner like shit, was because he plays too many video games. (I love and let my kids play video games....but damn...this is a field trip kiddo!)
When we got back into the bus, apparently terror #1 was causing such a huge fuss that the substitute dumped him in the back of the bus near the other parent and I. I had to eventually have him relocate to sit near me and we played I-Spy for about 20 minutes on the way home. The sad part about this? When I went to take my angel home (she really was an angel the whole time), he tried to pay me a dollar for being "so nice to him".
I'm not sure how to take that. Either get insulted because he thinks I worked for him, or get angry that his parents raised him to believe he can only pay people to be nice to him. Wow. Just wow. I couldn't take his dollar, as that would be wrong. But, why in the world did he do that? To be a little dick or because his parents told him that's what he should do? Either way, he has massive ADD and needs a proper spanking. He was out of control the entire time and the kid that knocked the other kids' tooth out. He is a little psychopath that needs to have his energy put into more resourceful things.
Unfortunately, I have heard through the grapevine that his mother is actually a regular bitch. So, I won't even try to get to know that family at all. I will be telling my daughter to avoid him, as he has tried before to bully her. She should not be put into that situation, but that kid is out of control and the school can't really do anything about it.
I have told hubby that I will NOT be volunteering for another field trip, as the parents sitting on that park bench just pissed me off to no end. He has suggested that since I am no longer on the field trip, to go and visit the park again randomly during the week so that I can properly tell that fat bitch off. I don't think I will waste my time doing this...seems pointless at this point. My friends and family all think that this fatty was just jealous that I am half her size, look presentable and know how to handle children. I hate to use the "she's just jealous" excuse, but I have a feeling like she is...or she was just looking for someone to be a bitch to.
In the end, my little girlie had a lot of fun (though she hated it when I had to tell the children to calm down a few times), and she was VERY good. I'm still amazed at how good she was. She also apparently has a boyfriend. They were holding hands the entire time and didn't leave each other's side. Both were super quiet and shy. It was cute, but I'll have to nip that in the bud eventually.
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