ARRRRGH.
We have about 20 junior high kids in our neighborhood, and no bus to take them the 1.6 miles to school. Somehow I got put in charge of organizing carpool groups. Why did I get that job? I don’t know, but I’m NOT doing it again. So I checked in with people to see if they wanted to join up with a big carpool, or maybe they don’t have enough seats and want to stick with a small carpool, or no carpool all at. We had 6 kids/5 drivers, which was perfect, and when I went to talk to one of the moms, she said, “I’m not doing carpools this year. My son/daughter can just ride his/her bike. I’m not going to be driving any carpools this year.”
Uh, what? Well, that screws up my carpool schedule, and…really? I know what’s going to happen. Your poor kid is going to be out there in the rain/snow/wind/cold, and we are going to feel sorry for him/her and pick him/her up and squish him/her into our carpool, so you’ll get rides for him/her without ever offering to drive. I just KNOW it.
Anyway, this carpool has been difficult. Certain people can only drive in the mornings, We have to rotate through Fridays but some people just CAN’T do that, so some people will be driving more than others, etc. And we’ve changed our assignments so much I can hardly keep it straight. I had to call a friend and say, “Am I picking up the kids today or was it you?”
Then–(and here’s the venting part)–Mrs I don’t want to carpool called me this morning and asked who was driving and if her son/daughter could join in and could she take a day, etc, etc? I know I should jump at the chance to have another driver, but I honestly don’t know if one of our drivers can fit 7 kids in her car, and can we really add one more kid, etc, etc.
I know there are bigger problems in the world than my carpool issues, but I’m just kind of tired of it. The mean snarky side of me wants to say, “Oh, sorry. You didn’t want to join our carpool, and we’re all full.” But did I say that? No, of course not. Because I’m a wimp. And I want people to all just get along. Even if it’s irritating.
So, I’ll spend an hour on the phone with everyone, trying to work this out. Yes, I will.
Arghh.
Oh my goodness. I hope you don’t all hate each other when this is over!
And, that is why I don’t do carpools. I wish I had been there. I would have let that lady have it for you.
Another reason I don’t do carpools is that I was child part of a carpool and there were times where we would stand outside for over an hour because one mom was always late or would forget. This was before cell phones and the school office would be closed and we couldn’t call etc.
But I love the carpool when it works. Otherwise, I would spend ALL day EVERY day in the car. No, we won’t hate each other. I just needed to get this off my chest and then I can move on.
You are a good sport to do it. I’m debating whether to get involved in a carpool this year. At this point I really don’t want to but there is a mom who has her oldest in kindergarten and 2 younger at home and really needs help getting her child home at the end of the day. I can’t decide whether to do it or not. mostly I’m leaning to I’ll just take my kids to school myself and then offer to bring her daughter home. The hard part here is her daughter is quite a difficult child and I’m not sure I want to deal with that. Like you wanted to know all of this.