An Apology To Our Soldiers And Veterans

This morning I attended my grade 5 daughters' school's Remembrance Day assembly.  With three - count em THREE toddlers in tow.  I let all my daycare parents know earlier in the week about our upcoming fieldtrip and how important it was for me to be there as a parent.  Zoe's in her school choir this year.  Her final year of elementary school.  It's been a long, long, looooong battle to get where we are today, and to see her excelling and positively loving school.

I talked with my toddlers about how important our fieldtrip was to Zoe and me, and explained we'd be listening to other children sing songs about peace and about being grateful for all our soldiers. 

I packed a dozen little teeny tiny books that I bought specially for fieldtrips.  I packed each toddler their own special snack - cheerios, raisins, and Froot Loops and Alpha-bits - the latter being perfect for teaching colours and letters ;P

I made sure to bring a big comfy quilt for us to sit on instead of having to sit on a cold, hard gym floor. 

We all watched...QUIETLY...as Zoe and the rest of the school filtered into the gym.

We stood...QUIETLY...and listened to Oh Canada!  We knew that after such an important song, we don't applaud. 

We sat down...QUIETLY...and resumed our book reading and started on our snack packs.

We watched and listened intently as Zoe and the rest of the choir took their places in the stands and sang "Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream".  When my toddlers saw me dabbing at my tears of pride with kleenex, they all held out their hands and asked "please"...so they could copy me and dab too!

So what is the point of my ramble?

This morning was one of those picture-perfect mornings where I am reminded how much I love doing daycare, how much I love my little group, and how thankful I am to live in the time and place that I do.

So what is the point of my ramble......

While the entire audience of moms, dads, aunts, uncles, grammas, grampas, and other children and toddlers were respectfully listening and enjoying today's assembly, some parent felt it was ok to just let THEIR toddler run rampant through the audience chairs, through the students sitting respectfully on the floor, and even up and down and through the choir stands!

The most disgusting, disheartening and downright disrespectful part was when this toddler was permitted to behave this way while a veteran was giving a heartfelt speech on what Remembrance Day is all about...about how it is hard to put on his uniform without remembering all his fallen comrades...about all the sacrifices made by the brave few for the many.

At the end of the ceremonies, I was shocked at how many parents, teachers - even Zoe's principal - came over to personally thank my three toddlers for being so respectful, and such pleasant visitors. 

I wasn't shocked that I was able to "pull this off".

I was shocked at how pretty much complete strangers felt comfortable enough to tell me and my children how much they appreciated our manners at such an important assembly.

I was shocked that NOT ONE parent or teacher approached the parent of the obnoxious toddler to tell them how inappropriate, rude and downright disrespectful it was to allow their child to run rampant....even though it was on the faces of everyone there while it was happening.

But I think what bothers me the most is the fact that *I* sat there and did nothing.

I am truly sorry that I did not speak up.