I stood in line with my three kids outside my six-year-old daughter’s school before her MAP test. As a virtual school student, my daughter hadn’t been inside her school all year. That made this a big deal.
Another big deal was the fact she was getting to see her classmates in person for the first time. She was excited, but also a little shy.
While standing in line, my daughter thought she recognized a girl in front of us as from her class zoom meetings.
“Dad, I think that girl up there is Amber from my class,” my daughter quietly said.
“Which one?” I asked.
“The girl in the pink coat,” she replied. I think it’s important to mention almost every little girl in line had on a pink coat. I’m not trying to defend myself, I’m just stating a fact.
“Do you want to go talk to her?” I asked.
“No, I’m too nervous,” she answered.
Since my daughter doesn’t have the opportunity to talk with her classmates in person, I might have been a little too eager for her to have a friend to talk with face-to-face. So I asked again, “Are you sure you don’t want to talk with her?”.
“No, I don’t,” she reminded me.
Time passed and kids who completed their MAP test started leaving the school, mixing in with the kids waiting in line. This meant the number of little girls in pink coats doubled.
“Dad, that girl in the pink coat is Amber,” stated my daughter with some excitement.
The happy sound of my daughter’s is all the proof I needed that she was now ready to talk with her classmate. I should have asked for more clarification on which one was Amber.
I saw a Mom and her pink-coat-wearing daughter walk into the parking lot. That must be Amber, I thought.
“Is your daughter named Amber?” I yelled.
The Mom turned and with a surprised look shook her head “No”.
“Oh sorry,” I responded, “my daughter thought she was Amber from her class.”
Again, I thought I was helping my daughter meet a classmate. Oh how wrong I was.
My daughter’s head dropped as she stared at the ground mortified. Without looking up she angrily whispered, “That was so embarrassing Dad. Don’t ever do that again.”
My son, who I can usually count on for support, didn’t have my back. “That didn’t impact me,” he said, “but that was pretty embarrassing.”
I’m pretty sure my toddler even shook her head in disgust.
Despite my best of intentions, there I stood in shame… officially an ‘Embarrassing Dad’.