Your cart is currently empty!
Why I Created a Spam Filter for Emails from My Kids’ School
Let’s talk about the avalanche of emails that flood my inbox from my kids’ school. There are notifications about PTA meetings, Halloween parties, reading events, fundraisers, field trips, and instructions for parents who wish to opt out of Common Core testing. Some emails are just addenda correcting previous ones that had wrong info like event locations or phone numbers. Others come with a subject line like “PRINCIPAL’S UPDATE,” yet the body is completely blank, leaving me to wonder what the mystery PDF attachment contains. Seriously, it’s only Monday!
I have a job, a decent circle of friends, and, oh yeah, my kids, who are the main reason for all these emails. Keeping up with this endless stream of correspondence is overwhelming. If the content felt meaningful or enriching, I might feel differently, but honestly, it often feels impersonal and obligatory. It lacks the thoughtfulness I’d expect, and it doesn’t connect with my kids’ interests or concerns.
When I was a kid, my dad was completely in the dark about my school activities, only knowing what my report cards revealed. Now, schools seem obsessed with constant sharing, fostering a sense of community that feels strange to me. My father never attended school events or scheduled coffee dates with other parents; everyone seemed fine with that arrangement. Yet here we are, in a world where communication is rampant but meaningful connection feels elusive.
I do my part—I attend school concerts and parent-teacher conferences, and I take a moment to appreciate my presence there. But I often feel a disconnect between the vibrant, quirky girls I know and the bland reports I receive from their teachers. Despite the volume of emails, it seems like the teachers don’t know my kids any better. Simple questions like, “Who does my daughter connect with in class?” often lead to vague, scripted responses, likely due to privacy rules.
Perhaps the sheer amount of communication is part of the problem. With oversized class sizes, standardized testing, and lockdown drills as new norms, it’s no wonder teachers struggle to connect closely with each student after churning out countless emails every week. School has become a checklist of tasks. So, I decided to check a box of my own: I marked these emails as spam.
If you want to dive deeper into topics surrounding home insemination, check out this post from our other blog. For more about the journey of artificial insemination, visit this excellent resource on the subject.
Summary
This article explores the overwhelming flood of emails from schools and how it can feel impersonal despite the intention to foster communication and community. The author reflects on the disconnect between the digital correspondence and the actual relationships teachers have with students, leading to the decision to filter those emails as spam.