Today my daughter is turning in her habitat diorama. She and my husband, Phil, made it in a shoe box with dirt and glue and branches and fake leaves. They spray painted wires that they'd attached to a decapitated llama eraser, which served as the monkey's head. I thought it looked good. I was so pleased that my husband planned it out with her and executed the project. Praise the Lord for Phil's patience!
Yesterday, I flipped through the instructions to make sure we'd done it correctly. I saw that the two sample pictures showed the diorama on both the open top and inside of the shoe box, but I didn't see how this mattered. There were also instructions on how to include the child's name, habitat description, and a two-paragraph explanation on the back of the box. I typed these up for her, printed them on label paper and had her stick them to the box.
Like I said, today we turned it in. I watched my daughter carry in her closed shoe box with dried glue dripping down one side and the shoe brand name still clearly visible on the top. I watched as the other parents helped their students carry their dioramas up the school steps. My eyes popped, my heart quickened, and I was suddenly afraid for my daughter.
Oh my. Let me tell you, those other parents did a much better job on their kids projects than we did on ours. The outsides of their boxes were covered in colored paper. Their scenes were dripping with life-like props and greenery. I spotted one box affixed open onto a board to support the expansive scene. Through my car window I spied my daughter walking up to one of her friends.
Oh no. Here comes the comparisons. I wanted to leap out of the car and rescue her. "Come on, Rose! You don't have to go to school! These projects are silly! All these parents just did their children's projects for them and they weren't supposed to! They're cheaters!" (Never mind the fact that my husband did most of my daughter's project.) "They're just over-achievers!"
And how dare they make me feel inadequate, as if our work on our child's diorama isn't enough.
I had the drive to my youngest school to calm down. At home I worked on stretching and the laundry while listening to Pray as You Go Podcast for May 12, 2022. I don't think it was a coincidence that they sang the Prayer of Saint Teresa by Margaret Rizza as the opening song. It goes like this:
"Let nothing disturb you,Nothing distress you.
While all things fade away,
God is unchanging
God is enough."
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