Not a great idea to volunteer in my kids' class

It never goes well anytime I volunteer to do something with my kids' class in preschool. My part goes well, but my kids end up being so unhappy that I come away with no deep glow of self-satisfaction but with the memory of my child's eyes swimming in tears. It happened again today! Last week, Y's class teacher called to tell me that this week was "Language week" at school, and did I think I could come along and do some storytelling (in English) to Y's class? 

I acquiesced immediately. Back when I was only a mom-of-one and was also what is known as an enthu cutlet (!!), I had joined a playgroup in the Bay Area. A bunch of us, all of whom were first-time mommies got all fired-up about doing creative, educational activities with our kids (all between the ages of 2 and 2.5). We decided to meet once a week, in addition to the weekly playgroup that we used to attend, to attain this lofty objective. I smile when I think about how it wasn't enough for me to let my 2-year old play in the sand with a few toys. No, I had to go all out and make a list of themed activities to improve his motor skills, language skills and social skills :) Every member of the group would lead the activity every week, by rotation. We did this religiously for about 6 months until it was time for most of the kids to start preschool and then it was too difficult to coordinate our separate and often conflicting schedules. 

So, this time, all I had to do was pull up some google docs of previous activities which I had done with this group, and customize it a little bit. I chose a jungle theme and decided to read 3 books, play 2 games, sing 2 songs and end on a calmer note with some colouring activity. 

So far so good. However, as it used to happen with Ads, Y got pretty miffed with all the attention her mommy was receiving from her classmates, and the attention and smiles her mommy was bestowing on other kids. She was not clingy, but cried a lot during the 90 minutes that I was there and when I was leaving, she wailed because I'd said bye to all the other kids but not to her! I'd in fact already said a separate goodbye to her earlier, but who was to argue with her? :(

Y is a pretty strong kid, mentally and emotionally, unlike Ads who can switch on the water-faucet at the drop of a hat. This means that I tend to discount his tears and take hers much more seriously because when she cries, it means she's really really upset.

I'm not sure I'll do stuff with her class again. It doesn't feel good at all!