>The call about Open House was okay. Likewise the reminder of Parent- teacher conferences.

But the calls about Homecoming? Not needed. As if a kid would forget spirit days, the football game, and the dance? Not likely.
Or the call announcing, “As of today, school is officially on winter break.” Likewise. Any teenager who didn’t know when break started is not exactly a star student to begin with.
“Don’t forget to check the Lost and Found! All items will be donated to Goodwill next week.” Could you not run this on the daily announcements and be done with it?
“Final Exams will take place on the 20th, 21st, and 22nd. All fines must be paid by then.” Um… could the school system not get this across more efficiently? Maybe the novel approach of actually contacting students with fines and leaving the rest of the families alone?

It gets worse. Robo-secretary called on a Friday evening informing us that our child had been marked absent from a class that day. Amigo had no idea what had happened. He, like others with Asperger’s, thrives on routine. Missing a class is not on his agenda. He swore he hadn’t missed anything that day or any other day. Chuck stopped in to visit the school office the following Monday to investigate: it was a mistaken call. The system had gotten out of hand and called the families of every student in the school, including the associate principal and her freshman son. Now the very same associate principal was faced with making apologies to 400 families.

It gets better — or at least more humorous. We were shocked with a robo-call at 5:30 one morning. Yes, I said morning. 5:30 A.M. Local High School families were awakened to find out that the following morning was Senior Spirit Day, the day that all seniors wear school colors and “skip” homeroom to take a class picture in the gym.
Oops. Someone programmed A.M. instead of P.M. this time.
To repair the error, the same secretary recorded a new call apologizing for the mistake, and sent it out that night at the correct time. At 5:30 P.M. came the automated and recorded message from Robo-Call High School, explaining the AM/PM mistake and reminding parents of the senior spirit specialty sprockets and ….IS THIS REALLY SO BLASTED IMPORTANT???!!!

Give it up already! If it’s important, please call me. Call Chuck. Call my kid to the office to remind him of his fines (actually, he has none). If he’s missing something, he’ll find his way to the Lost and Found and bring a friend along to search (he’s blind, remember?). If he cares about Senior Spirit Day, he’ll set out his clothes the night before. He’ll get to the gym. It doesn’t take a phone call, much less one made at an inhuman hour of the morning.

Thank goodness for caller ID – at least when I’m awake, I can screen the calls.

>To-do, Ta-dah, tomato, tomahto, whatever. Sometimes, these lists are impossible. In the style of lists, here are the top ten problems with to-do lists.

10. To-do lists don’t take into account regular, everyday tasks.
-Make lunch, clean up lunch, eat lunch – how often do basic routines make the list? They don’t.
9. Illness throws more onto the list while making it harder to accomplish what’s already on it. Example: adding “Buy new vaporizer” to list also means adding “Unpack new vaporizer, read directions, clean, fill with water, and install new vaporizer” to the aforementioned to-do list.
8. Teens often need help getting up and at ’em.
-Translation: teens need a bit of nagging to get them to participate. Is “Nag the teen” on the list? Nope.
7. Kids home from college increase the magnitude of each task, even if they assist.
-Translation: kids home from college increase the amount of laundry and cooking and basic home maintenance, and sometimes even borrow the vehicle. Hey, wait; that means she could fill the minivan with gas while she’s out. Maybe she could drop off the blankets at the laundromat, too.
6. Laundry could be its own list.
-Four wash loads and three dryer loads in, and there are still at least 3 wash loads and 4 dryer loads awaiting. And this only take up one line? It takes days to reach Ta-dah! status!
5. Pets don’t help.
-They’re lovely, but they can’t write out the checks for the end-of-month bills or fold the laundry.
4. Holidays, while wonderful, add to the list. “Take down tree” really means “Take ornaments off tree, store ornaments for next year, take lights off tree, store lights, and then, finally, take tree outside.”
3. Laundry never goes away.
-see number 6
2. Weather adds to any to-do list.
-Ours says “Shovel and salt sidewalk and driveway.”