I am absolutely horrible at filling out forms. I like to think it’s because I’m creative. And for creative people, there are few absolutes. Everything is a shade of gray. For ANY question, there are multiple answers.
Forms, especially the dozen or so each of our kids needs filled out at the start of school, demand one answer per question.
For example….Name? Due to our naming quirkiness, each of our kids have at least two names. The one they’re registered as (Samuel, Elisabeth, Catherine) and the one we call them. Ditto that for me (Christina/Tina) and for M. Gray Area Number One.
How will your child get home from school each day? Ack! I have to commit now? There’s the bus, car pool, walking, or riding their bike. What if we chose one and she hates it? Can I say all of the above?
M. is much better at these things. And if we could fill out all forms electronically, he’d have a second job keeping up with the kids’ paperwork. But no. For M., anything handwritten is out of the question because his handwriting is the worst in the history of tiny square letters with awkward slants. A convenient problem when I have 6,000 thank-you-notes to write.
And the forms, of course.
Not only is it the multiple answers for each question but also the inefficiency of these forms. At the doctor this week, I filled out the new paperwork for Nate. Our other three kids have been patients of this doctor for years, yet I still had to fill out at least a dozen forms. Each asking for our address.
Which I wrote wrong more than once.
I really wanted to add an asterisk and write at the bottom that I’m overtired and was having trouble remembering where we live.
And what my children want to be called.
And my name.
