Who hates the carpool lane at their kids’ school? If I had to guess, most of you are shouting, “ME!” I’m lucky, I rarely have to use the one at my child’s school. Yet when I do, it’s a nightmare.
Recently, as I was scrolling through the internet, I read a post on my child’s school’s Facebook page. It was by an angry woman who was blasting a parent for basically taking too much time in the carpool line and it instantly annoyed me. Why do we always try to tear each other down?
I’m going to venture and guess that the angry woman had no idea who this carpool “stopper” was. I’m also going to guess that she had no idea what that mother’s morning had been like. What if that mother was facing postpartum depression or had to wrangle three other kids into the car just to bring one to school? Maybe she had just lost her parent. Knowing that, would the angry woman have cut her some slack?
Don’t get me wrong, the carpool line at my child’s school is a disaster, but there are so many better ways to tackle the issue. How about finding a solution or talking to the school, for starters?
I’m going to admit that when I take my son to school, he is the slowest kid to get out of the car. He takes his sweet little time all the while I’m telling him to hurry up because the cars in front have me have now driven off. To anyone behind me, I would look like a carpool “stopper”. Maybe we should start teaching our kids to jump out while we are still driving, this way parents won’t have a chance to blast people like me on Facebook.
I think the thing that got me about this particular post is that we are all parents. We all have struggles and none of us are perfect. Don’t get me wrong, this lady had every right to be mad and frustrated, but she could have handled it better and not publicly.
As parents, we need to be better examples for our children. I certainly wouldn’t think it was OK for my sons to blast someone on social media. I hope that when they get mad, they first think, “I have no idea what this person has been through today,” and give them a break.
Take a good look around at your fellow moms. I know I’m not the only one that has cried in a grocery store or sat in a parking lot for a while just to get some time to myself or even wrangled a bunch of grumpy kids in a store. Instead of taking your frustrations out on other moms, take a look at why you’re getting so angry. This might be the reality check you need.
