Back To School Night

Why is it called that? It's not just this school, lots of schools call it the same thing. I'm presuming it isn't called that because the teachers have to come back to school after the actual school day. At least in my house, back to school night is the night before school starts for the kids. So I guess the idea is that it's like parents coming back to school after all these years out in the real world. That's sort of sweet, so I guess that's the thing to call it.

This reminds me of a passage from one of the Winnie the Pooh books, where Pooh is asking Owl how to write a letter. Owl says, "Well, Pooh, the customary procedure in this case is as follows." Pooh replies, "What does Crustamoney Proseedcake mean?" Owl explains, "It means the Thing To Do." and Pooh says humbly, "As long as it means that, I don't mind."

Parents Night, as I'm wont to call it, is fun for me. It's a nice chance to meet people and reconnect, sometimes in unexpected ways, like finding out that one of my students went to preschool with my younger daughter and I served on the school's board with his mother for 2 years.