When Neither Parent Can Make it to a School Event

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Of all the events and duties we juggle, one that most parents make sure to catch is a childÂ’s school performance or special sports contest. After all, even the most ordinary class play or playoff game yields once-in-a-lifetime moments that would go unseen and uncelebrated in a parentÂ’s absence. But what if neither parent can attend?

Sara tackled the issue late last year, when she had to miss a holiday party at her daughterÂ’s preschool. But in that case her husband was able to go. Similarly, my wife and I are facing a daunting task in making sure our daughter has a parent at her first-grade classÂ’s art show and musical performance one afternoon next week. My wife will be at an advocacy-group meeting in the state capital, 150 miles away, while IÂ’ll be facing my busiest day at work in some time, unable to skip work entirely or work from home. I had been planning to drive to work instead of taking the train, then take the 40-minute drive back to our town in the early afternoon, stay for the show and speed back to work. However, my wife decided she could cut out of her meeting early and head home in time to make it.

Still, what if she had been farther away, and my day were even more impossible to get out of? I wonder what level of distance or inconvenience would have pushed us into the tough decision of not going at all. Maybe one of our mothers could have made it, since one is close by and the other can often come down, but our daughter might have had to be that lonely kid with no one there to cheer for her.

Readers in two-parent families, have you faced a situation in which neither of you could make it to an important event in your childÂ’s life? How did you handle it, or how do you think you would if it happens in the future?