If you have kids at school. I have a question for you.
Are you doing ENOUGH?
Are you joining the P&C? Are you at reading groups, and already planning the Easter fete? Are you writing questions for the trivia night, and baking for World Nutella Day?
If you are, good for you. But I am not. I am certainly not doing enough.
At least, not YET.
Listen to Andrew Daddo, and Sam from schoolmum.net, try to talk me into volunteering:
Don’t get me wrong, I love my daughter’s school. And so does she. I am not triggered by the smell of poster paint, I am not scared of Teacher. I have no objections to spending time there.
But TIME is the problem. Time is the thing, that, just like you, I don’t have. And trying to find it, to skerrick around and find little scraps of it that I might have missed, is the thing that makes me more stressed than any other.
So, I don’t volunteer. But I am smart enough to know two things about that:
- I am expecting others to pick up the slack. Schools need involved parents to run well.
- My kid is possibly missing out. She might love to see her mum at the school. Everyone says so.
Yet I resist, and here are my arguments for doing so:
- I don’t need MORE things to do. I need FEWER things to do. A more stressed-out parent is not what my kids need.
- While my daughter is at school, I kind of need to be at work. My boss expects me to turn up most days.
- It seems to me all things volunteering are things I’m rubbish at: Sewing, baking, decorating stuff… I was not blessed with womanly talents.
What It Means To Give Birth On Country
The Delivery Room
Top Comments
Do it if/when you have time - you won't know the benefits if you don't. OR don't do it. It's your decision after all. The only thing I objected to in your article was your limited list of volunteer possibiities at school - which you referred to tasks such as
"Sewing, baking, decorating stuff…" and then "I was not blessed with womanly talents." First of all, it's a very limited viewpoint to call the above "womanly talents" - we have plenty of dads who also volunteer at school. Secondly, you can read, I assume? Lots of help that parents contribute has to do with actual reading support and other classroom tasks. If you do mange to slot in an hour a week or as a once off, you might just be pleasantly surprised at the possibilities. Eg we recently helped for 45 mins AFTER HOURS at the welcome back bbq. Some parents sign up to be the "class parent" to ease the load on the teacher in regards to forwarding on generic emails from the school as a point of contact. That's something that can be done in your own time, from home. They often welcome parents to attend on excursions - and if you work in a kid friendly, curriculum compatible place then maybe one such excursion could include a trip to your work place with you as the guide. Oh and btw, scientists have done studies to discover that children with parents who volunteer at school, actually do better academically. I'll find the link to that study and post it here. I myself volunteer, not always but I do what I reasonably can, I don't over commit myself and mostly I enjoy it. Also, I know that if my schedule were to change I could cut back on my commitments.
As long as school hours coincide with standard work hours, of course they're going to find it hard to get volunteers. That's just reality. The real issue is that we're going to have to force government to prioritise our children's education; it has to be as important to our politicians as it is to rest of us. Because, why should our kids and our schools have to rely on volunteers? Why don't governments value our kids enough to provide sufficient staff?