It sounds like your President has a self-esteem issue. I have to deal with a person or two like that and it sometimes makes me crazy but I have to remind myself, it's not my problem, it's theirs.
If you want to soften the situation a bit and you think she is approachable, pull her aside and tell her that it was not your intention to walk over her, just to be part of a great team that can do great things for your kids.
A good example about sharing ideas, is the story of a power company that was having trouble with ice on the power lines. One person chimed in and said why don't we put honey pots on the poles and encourage the local bears to climb them and shake the ice off. Silly yes, but noone shot it down but instead grew with it, where the end result was, how do we get the honey pots down. A helicopter. Well then everyone realized that the force of the helicopter's propeller would shake the ice off the lines. This conclusion might never have been discovered had the first person's idea been laughed off.
Perhaps you can explain to her that all ideas although they may seem silly can flourish as long as someone isn't shooting them down.
If you can't reason with her, keep doing for the kids and try to ignore her and don't take it personally. Some people just need that validation to feel good about themselves. You aren't there to make her feel better at your groups expense. You are there to do the best job you can for your kids. Remember that and let it hold you up!
You have an awesome outlook - you just want what's best for the kids and the teachers, and you don't care who gets the credit. Where do I find your clone? You can come have any position you want in our PTO!
But seriously - anyone can have a bad day (yes - I'm a glass is half full person 95% of the time) so chalk it up to that with your pres and move on to the next project. Don't take this personally and don't let it stop you from the good work you are doing.
We are at the start of the new year….our President is the type if isn’t her idea it isn’t a good idea. When we were planning the first meeting she started our planning session (I am the VP) with I don’t want to do a fundraiser, Or Burger King Night… That put me on guard some. We talked about needing to come up with new ideas to get more parent involvement, and that is how we left it, I thought both of us getting ideas. When we got back together to make the agenda she hadn’t brought any ideas, I had researched and found several. Any way long story short she says that I have walked all over her and took over the meeting because I had all the new ideas. I don’t know what to do? I refuse to let her run our PTO into the ground but I don’t want to “run over her eitherâ€. By the way at the end of the meeting people came to us BOTH and said what a great meeting it was. (under her breath she said to bad I ran all over her) I don’t want the credit I just want things to run smooth for our kids and teachers.
