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Can You Resist the Parent Volunteer Vortex?
This school year, will you be sucked into the (cue scary music) “The School Volunteer Vortex”?
On her blog Late Blooming Mom, 45-year-old working mother Holly Sklar describes her initiation into public school volunteering and the onslaught of all these Uber Volunteer Moms who are clamoring to suck her into her ranks. Two weeks into her kids’ kindergarten year, and she’s already fed up.
In a blog post highlighted on the New York Times’ Motherlode blog, she writes:
I have filled out dozens of forms from the [parent booster] club, not to mention the kids’ teachers, all to do with what activities I can volunteer to be a part of, in the classroom and outside of it, ranging from re-shelving library books to driving kids to and from field trips to helping to organize and run any of the myriad of fund-raising events and activities that occur throughout the year. I’ve been told of mandatory commitments per child at the school, e.g., every family has to work one traffic safety shift, at pickup or drop-off, per child, during the year. I have been invited to no less than four volunteer events, and I’ve already missed two of those. I’ve been asked to contribute the “suggested” amount per child – and nothing that you can pay in ten installments is cheap – because, though a public education is free, a great one is not — especially nowadays. Every day brings more mail in the kids’ backpacks, offering additional ways to get involved.
If I get another piece of paper from the parent association, it’s quite possible my head is going to explode.
Maybe this is retro. Maybe it’s not furthering the advancement of women in office careers, or the acceptance of motherhood as a legitimate part of a working woman’s life. But to the questioner at the New York Times’ Motherlode blog who asks how to handle bringing your baby to work, I have only this to say:
Don’t. Continue reading »
Much has been written about how hard the life of a stay-at-home parent is. It’s widely reputed to be about the hardest job out there.
CBS’ Early Show host Erica Hill has some interesting things to say about the challenges of being on the other side of that divide. Her husband stayed home with their son for two years while Erica continued working. Being the breadwinner meant giving up a lot of time with her family, and also a lot of control of their home life.
While Hill’s husband juggled changing diapers and social scorn for his decision to stay home, she got a heaping helping of mommy guilt. Shouldn’t she be at home with her baby?
She orders around two little boys at home, so it’s no surprise Sarah Thomas became the first woman to ref a college bowl game this week. She’s good at what she does.
The mother of Bridley and Brady has been making a name for herself in recent years doing things her son’s have an automatic right to based simply on their gender. Thomas has gotten there based on her skills and her talent. Continue reading »
A working mom might not be the “caregiver” during the day for her kids, but she’s the one still carrying the burden.
According to a story over at MSNBC this week, women are overwhelmingly making the childcare arrangements for their kids, and the cost of paying the sitter comes out of her paycheck. Continue reading »
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