Some people are just kind of idiots

Why do some people think classroom guidelines are for everyone except them? I really want to know. Responsible Room Parent in Sophie's classroom issued a letter (in both email and print form) suggesting the following:

Valentine's Day will be upon us next week, and so that things don't get out of hand in the sweets department, [Amazing Teacher] has requested that we keep the candy to a minimum. A small candy heart attached to a Valentine is fine; bags and cups and large lollipops that get consumed immediately (really they do) are not. This will leave the children all jacked up on sugar and in [Amazing Teacher's] trusty hands—believe me it's not pretty.

So Sophie and I refrained from a large-scale baking project (I had visions of smashed cookies anyway), and I explained to Sophie why she could not bring candy for the whole class. Instead, we focused on designing and making paper Valentines together, which was really fun.

Fine. Except I hear now from a parent who was at school earlier today that one Certain Family sent with their daughter with cookies the size of a child's head. Not only did they fail to respect the wishes of Amazing Teacher and Responsible Room Parent, but they made other kids who did not have something as fabulous to offer feel bad and made parents like me feel like smacking them.

But that's not all. In response to Certain Mother's earlier remark that she did not intend to have her daughter bring a Valentine for every child in the class because her daughter did not like everyone in the class, Responsible Room Parent had to include in her letter an additional caveat:

The other thing you should know about our Valentine ritual is that you are welcome to bring Valentines, but you must bring them for everyone. If your child doesn't want to bring them for everyone, then please don't bring any. It's a ritual of inclusion, and it's heartbreaking to leave anyone out. The other classes request the same, so it's not just the K-1-2 class. If you have any questions, please email me, or speak to [Amazing Teacher].

Can you believe there are people who need this spelled out for them? I'm wondering if the cookies were a passive-aggressive jab in response to the insistence of inclusion.

And did I mention that at last year's class camp out, for which food was carefully planned and delegated, Certain Parents showed up with bakery cupcakes and aerosol cans of frosting so kids could decorate their own breakfast. Right on.

I guess there's one in every group, isn't there?