Room Mom

Cher fanboy aside, we just found out that Rob has been given a new title, one we can both agree upon. He was just selected to be the "Room Mom" for our boy's first grade class.

I take it he's the first male to hold this position, as they apparently don't have any description of the responsibilities that doesn't call him mom :-).

He'll be helping at the school quite a bit next year, be a liaison between the teacher and parents, and be responsible to show new parents the ropes of the school. We very much appreciated our Room Mom and I'm sure he'll be great at it too [Scot says as he finishes off one of Rob's amazing sugar cookies].

Is it odd that such still surprises me? That it's something I find worthy of mention even? The degree to which our family structure isn't an issue in our personal circle of friends and acquaintances, in a state where, just outside that circle, are a good number of legislators, religious leaders, and activists saying and doings some horrible things to gay people... don't get me wrong, I'm happy for it, but it is kind of strange, no?

The teachers, administrators, parents, and area of the school are predominately LDS and the school's guiding philosophy, in general, is conservative (actually a reason we choose it, as I loved my schooling in a local Christian elementary school). But there just hasn't been a single problem, and I know I've made this same post before, but who would have predicted that ten years ago, let alone at our boy's birth? Should I keep being pleasantly surprised?

Rob will be the Room Mom without a bump, our kids are getting along great there, and all the parents have been wonderful; some have even become friends close enough that we socialize at each other's homes, outside of birthdays and play dates :-). At the last parent teacher's conference, in fact, Brian's teacher even went out of her way to tell us she wanted us to know that she thought we had given our boys a "superb home environment." This is from a woman who takes on faith (or who is supposed to anyway) that we are a sub par, non-ideal family, particularly for children (if she is even supposed to use the word family for us; is she?).

I'm just happy, glad to keep on bracing for something that might not come, and proud of our "room mom." Right now he's with the class at the zoo, but when we're all home I'll be sure to tell him that.

(I wonder if the boys will like having a parent there so much? They can't then get away with anything that won't follow them home :-))