Parenting Sucks Sometimes

My child is not In Chicago with her orchestra class today. All along we told her that her being able to go on this trip was dependent on having all of her work turned in for algebra. Wouldn’t you know, mom just had to check her grades yesterday morning on family access. How like me can I be? Because of course she had been doing so much better these last few weeks. That is right up until a day before the trip, when her teacher decided to enter the last two weeks of grades, forcing us to have to decide whether or not we would have to follow through on what we said.

Sheesh! Why did I even look? Weeks and weeks of MUCH better effort on her part and two missing assignments, are you kidding me? We had given her chance after chance and she was so close. I even called the school and had her call me before lunch and told her if she could get them turned in and the teacher could get me an email saying she did we would let her go. She tried but it just didn’t happen.

This was one of the hardest things I have faced as a parent. We debated ways we could rationalize sending her. She had tried, that effort was worth something that is for sure. But, we said what we said. And all I kept thinking is she will start high school next year, if she can’t trust us to say what we mean and mean what we say, how on earth are we ever going to get her through the next four years?

The last thing I ever want as a parent is for my children to miss out – on anything. But here she is $400 dollars later, sleeping in her own bed while her BFFs are tucked in somewhere in Chicago, giggling and not getting enough sleep. Meanwhile I am hoping we made the right call. My guess is we may not know the answer to that one for years.

Why does parenting have to suck so much sometimes?