For decades, my mother (who was a veterinarian’s assistant during my childhood) gloated about her visit to my third-grade classroom.
The dignified Mrs. Shelton accidentally transposed some numbers and Mom quickly corrected her for stating the normal human body temperature is 96-point-8.
(With the proliferation of true-crime podcasts, it seems today the normal human body temperature is “room.” But I digress.)
And I fondly remember wandering through corn mazes with my son’s elementary school class. But not every parent craves being the center of attention for her children’s classmates and instructors.
Take for instance the Knoxville, Tennessee mother of four who has become a TikTok celebrity by proudly labeling herself a “Venmo mom,” i.e. a loving parent who is more than willing to donate money for school causes but resists getting saddled with decorating, chaperoning, coaching, emceeing, vacuuming up the........