Coffee mornings; Still more technological advances that continue to amaze

So I volunteered to be a class mom in S school , and one of the responsibilities is to organise coffee mornings/ evenings or lunches with parents so that (a) they get to know each other, and (b) discuss common ideas/concerns .

There are two class moms per section and there are two sections in the preschool year. We decided to host a common introductory coffee morning for both sections as the children in both sections know each other (they have snacks together daily, and celebrate birthdays etc together) and we felt it would be nice for the parents also to know each other. And it turned out to be a good idea. Firstly the budget was bigger as we could combine two sections (yes we have a budget for organising coffees!) and also since all parents would not turn up we would at least have a decent turnout for the coffee morning so it wouldn't be only us four coffee moms chatting with each other.

We divided the work amongst us and my responsibility, other than sending out reminders to parents and catching them when they come to pick up their kids and reminding them about the coffee morning (I've never followed up more!!) was to get the croissants and bread. I arrived with it, late as usual (in my defence I was waiting to give a lift to another class mom in S school, and the venue was in the main school (where S will go next year, the preschool is in a smaller campus about 15 mins away from the main school) and when I reached was really surprised to see a table laid out with a lace table cover, beautiful decorations, nice plates with slices of ham, cheese spread out and chocolate cake, jam cake etc in beautiful dishes. I never felt more shoddy with my stainless steel plate for the breads and microwave glass vessel for the croissants!

One of the co organisers was carrying a pink and white polka dot stroller suitcase in which she had brought all the stuff and was telling us how her Grade 6 daughter refused to walk with her when she was coming inside the school because of the bright suitcase. I had to laugh. And here i was worried about S wanting to be a pink pig for the Halloween party coming up.

Coming back to the coffee morning, there were about 14 of us, and one of the class moms is also a part time teacher for the other class and was telling us (after we bombarded her with questions) about how the children go for their Waldkinder (walk in the woods) walk each Monday morning for about 2 and 1/2 hours. I was amazed, S walking for 2 and 1/2 hours. It seems they walk for about 1/2 hour, then they reach a place where they do some activities in the woods such as scratchings on leafs , collecting sticks for making stick men, collecting acorns and walnuts etc and then walk back for about 45 mins. The teachers are still exploring new areas and trying to figure out whether they can go to a place in the woods used by a local school for their Waldkinder which has a place for bonfire, toys etc or whether to make their own place. Wow these kids really have a good time. No wonder S wants to go to school everyday (touchwood!).

We also spoke about the cooking lessons, and what was nice was that some parents were combining this with their festivals to cook something typical of their culture. For eg today is Jewish New year and yesterday two of the moms got together and made a Jewish dish (i forget the name) in the class, and spoke to the children about the significance of honey (to have something sweet so that the coming year is sweet) to them, made a honey cake as well, and also got the children to make bee cut outs from paper. And this is the parent's initiative itself. Am thinking I should do something for Diwali. And its not only with the cooking. One of the fathers mentioned that he had gone to the school to read books to the children and he read the stories in French , and the children loved it.

The class is really international and I think kids at this age can adjust so well. S came to me the other day and said that a boy in her class spoke only German and I asked how she spoke to him and she only smiled and gave me a funny look as to why it should be an issue? And the father said the same thing, they have just moved from France and the children know only French but instead of putting them in the French school they've put them in this school so they pick up English. His daughter who is in the preschool has adjusted very well and is having no problems in the class. His son who is older is finding it difficult. I think its really awesome for S to have such exposure at such a young age.

The coffee morning ended with discussions on outings to be organised with the kids during the October holidays and various suggestions- some homework for me and the other class moms!

And I continue to be amazed with how technology has changed our lives. Today I got an email from the school to go online and book an appointment with the teacher for the coming parent-teacher meeting, using some Doodle application. With that I could see what time slots are free and book in advance. Far cry from the days my mom used to be first in the parent teacher conference on the second Saturday of every month as the rush used to be the least then! Ok I know you're wondering what is the big thing here and I agree. In office I always used to hear from the old timers how different it was when there were no laptops, when there was no intranet to circulate credit notes and credit notes were approved physically by circulation, and there was no mobile so people would not be available 24X7. But I never gave it a second thought as I had no reference point. I had not worked in such circumstances and had nothing to compare the situation with. Similarly in B school I could not imagine not having a computer center or any such thing. It is hitting home only now as I find S doing things which I had done 30 odd years ago and suddenly it feels so strange how much things have changed. And how old I've become! Sigh, soon A will know how to the use the I phone better than I do. S already does.