Monday, December 12, 2011

I Cry FOUL at the Spelling Bee

Life has been busy around our house for the last couple of weeks.  Really busy.  Last week my oldest was in the school spelling bee - picked as the top speller in his class.

To say that my husband and I were beyond proud of him for just being in the spelling bee would be an understatement.  We both re-arranged our work schedules to attend.  My son was a pile of nerves that morning, but we did our best to remind him that it didn't matter how he placed - we were SUPER proud of him anyway.  Little did I know I would turn in to one of "those" pageant moms that morning.

He was picked as number one in the order to go and he breezed through the words skating all the way to round four.  What really floored me was the one family that thought it was appropriate to bring their baby to the spelling bee.  I honestly think it was a tactic to mess up the kids.  The kids were nervous enough as it was that one cough, one cry, one random disruption really threw a kid off.  The vice principal had given the audience (including the several classes present) a stern warning about keeping quiet so as not to throw off the concentration of the kids.  I really think he should have directed that at the parents because the kids were great!

The baby cried more times than I could count and the mother had to get up numerous times just to calm the baby down.  The mother was oblivious to the glares from the parents every time the baby would cry.  I feel so bad for the kids who has this baby cry out right in front of them as they are nervously trying not to make a simple little mistake.  Don't get me wrong - I LOVE babies, I just think it is important to be contentious of the event you are bringing the baby too.  This is the perfect example of a time when it would have been better to leave the baby at home with a family member or baby sitter.

I sat there praying that the baby wouldn't cry during my son's turn - knowing how visibly nervous he was.  Round five began and just after the word "witness" was read a woman's cell phone went off.  OMG, my mother bear instinct kicked in.  I could have strangled her.  She darts up and goes running to the back door her phone ringing the whole way.  Seriously people?  Ever heard of silencing your phone?  Think that might be important to double check, triple check, heck even quadruple check that before the spelling bee begins?  Yeah lady, because I took the time to double check mine - it didn't go off during YOUR sons turn. 

My son missed that very word and who knows if he would have gotten it right without the phone ringing.  He told me later that he lost his focus when it happened.

But we are proud beyond belief of how well he did regardless of dumb dumbs who didn't respect the other kids in the spelling bee.

Gotta say... I'm a tad tempted to inform her of how obnoxious that was the next time I see her and anyone who knows me knows that I am one that runs from confrontation!

2 comments:

Kristen,  January 5, 2012 at 3:08 PM  

This is so funny because my 9 year old just made it to the finals in his school spelling bee and I'm looking forward to going in a few weeks. I have a 7-month old and it never even occurred to me not to bring him to this event, so thank you for posting this!! Disaster averted, hopefully! For that matter, I better leave my 4-year old with someone else as well!

Katie January 5, 2012 at 3:21 PM  

@Kristen

I think it all depends on the temperament of the baby. As a mom you know best. If you think they are prone to random boredness, they might be better off at home. :) This one particular baby was making disruptions constantly - so it was a bit much. :)

Best of luck to your 9 year old in the Spelling Bee!!! :)

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