Hi, I'm Tina and You Are...?

Ian and I have been going to Tot Classes ever since he was 8 months old. I wanted him to be around other kids his age. I wanted to learn some fun things to do with him at home. I selfishly wanted to meet other moms (dads too, but let's face it, it's usually moms at the classes). I think back to all the classes we've been to, and I can remember quite a few of the children and their names, but as for the mothers and fathers, well...

Ian was invited to a fellow toddler's birthday party. We received the invitation at a Tot Class a week ago. We've actually been in a similar class with this child and mother before. Obviously we knew them well enough to be invited to the child's second birthday party (or so I thought). I got out the invitation to call and say we were going, but alas, I didn't know the mother's name. I knew her son's name (Sam), why didn't I know her name? Did I forget it? I didn't think so. I racked my brain, trying desperately to remember if we introduced ourselves and what her name might be. No luck, I couldn't remember any such event.

Instead of making an awkward phone call, I decided to discuss the party with her at the Tot Class. I thought I would just apologize about not remembering her name and reintroduce myself. As luck would have it, she and her son didn't make it to class. (He probably caught the cold Ian seems to get every other time we go to class.)

What to do, what to do. I remembered that the woman gave an invitation to another mommy in the class. At least she was there, I could ask her what the woman's name was. Sheepishly, I went up to the woman, introduced myself (because now I'm not taking any chances with names), found out her name, and asked her if she could tell me the name of Sam's mom. Of course she couldn't, we only introduce ourselves as our child's mommy.

Great, now I had to make that dreaded phone call and say, "Hi, my name is Tina, I'm Ian's mom. We're excited about coming to Sam's birthday party. By the way, what's your name?"

Why is it when we go to such classes, we introduce ourselves as, "Hi, I'm so-and-so's mommy?" We have names, we're important too. This must change. The kids are usually wearing name tags, maybe the adults should wear them too. We sing a welcome song using each kid's name, maybe we need to do this for the adults too. Alright, I realize the song idea is a bad one since it would take forever, and the kids would start to squirm or run about with pent up energy, but something needs to change.

I am taking an oath as of right now. Everybody join in: "I, Tina (please insert your own name, after all, that's the whole point), do solemnly swear to introduce myself, by my own name, to other parents at Tot Classes, future soccer games, cub scouts, dance class, and any other event that involves hyperactive kids and tired adults."