Author: Jackie Pick

Jackie Pick is a former teacher and current writer living in the Chicago area. She is a contributing author to multiple anthologies, including Multiples Illuminated, So Glad They Told Me: Women Get Real about Motherhood, Here in the Middle, as well as the and the literary magazines The Sun and Selfish. She received Honorable Mention from the Mark Twain House and Museum for her entry in the Royal Nonesuch Humor Writing Competition. Jackie is a contributing writer at Humor Outcasts, and her essays have been featured on various online sites including McSweeney's, Belladonna Comedy, Mamalode, The HerStories Project, and Scary Mommy. A graduate of the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, Jackie is co-creator and co-writer of the award-winning short film Fixed Up, and a proud member of the 2017 Chicago cast of Listen To Your Mother.

So You Get To Chaperone Your Child’s Field Trip

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Get to. Have to. Same advice applies.

A cartoon school bus against a backdrop of trees and mountains. Text reads" So you get to chaperone your child's field trip"

As the school year whips by us like homework excuses in a tornado, we find ourselves on the cusp of that most cherished of all educational adventuring: the field trip, where learning and relentless searches for bathrooms are disguised as off-site fun. 

You, dear parents, have been chosen (read: volunteered, or at least volun-told) to chaperone. 

This isn’t a drill. Nor is it a walk in the park—even if your field trip is actually to a park. This is a tactical obstacle course where you and they will run, cry, fall, climb, carry, and “Why did I volunteer for this?” your way through the day.

Here’s a briefing, because sharing is part of the healing:

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