The One Hour "Carnival"

Last week, we went to our very first function at Lily's little school. I had big expectations...breaking into the parent's inner circle, a personal update from Lily's teacher on her progress and behavior, and a glimpse at Lily interacting with the friends she talks so much about. But, expectations are always dangerous. And I should know better than to set myself up for nothing but disappointment.

The school had a dress up, masquerade party for the kids. It had something to do with Mardi Gras and Easter season. The French don't really do Halloween, so I guess this is the time of year kids get all dressed up. And the costumes did NOT disappoint.

The little program was in the afternoon. We sent Lily to school with her princess costume in a bag for her to change into later with her teacher's help. When we arrived at 2:30 and I saw the amount of makeup on all the other little girl princesses, I was worried that I didn't take the event seriously enough. But my fear subsided when I first saw Lily-- from thirty feet away, through a window, I could tell she was wearing blue eye make up and red, red, lipstick! Whew...she wouldn't be the only princess not wearing makeup.

Anyway, so we showed up and the kids were still in their classrooms. All the parents and grandparents were issued out to the playground area to wait. After a couple of minutes, all the kids came out, holding hands in a single file line for a parade. There was salsa music playing in the background. The "Marcaraina" was brought back to life by these three, four, and five year-olds!

But then that was it. The only organized event was the little parade out of the building into the recess area. The kids were then set free for the next forty-five minutes. Where was the concert of songs I was expecting from the kids? Where was the "welcome and hello" from the directer of the school? No one else seemed to mind or even notice.

So while the most of the kids ran around the very small and crowded playground laughing and screaming, Phil, my mother in law, Lily and myself (the foreigners who had no idea what to do) just stood there and watched the mayhem. And that's when I realized that I had set my sights too high for this school function.

Lily was totally overwhelmed (and tired) and didn't really play with the other kids once the little five minute parade was over. She pretty much huddled around me the entire time. I didn't really talk to any other parents. On the up side, I did smile and get some smiles in return from a couple of the parents, so maybe that's a break through of some sort. Lily teacher's didn't have time to talk with us--the scene was pretty chaotic so any sort of chat was impossible.

After forty-five minutes of watching kids run around, the parents left and the children were bribed back into the school building by their teachers with the promise of a chocolate treat. And that was the end. Elaborate costumes, all the parents there...but nothing else. It seemed very strange to us...no program of any sort, no announcements of any sort, no real POINT of any sort.

Next year, I'll know not to get a babysitter for Zachary. And I'll send some red lipstick in the dress up bag with Lily's costume. Regardless, she was the prettiest princess there!