School Volunteer of the Year

Well, the word is out. I finally quit my job and am a mom "with more time". This translates into "available to volunteer for everything" according to my children, kid's teachers and school principals. While being available to "parent" in person more often was one of the goals for my leaving my last job, it was not the ONLY reason. I decided to be fundraising consultant for non-profits, among other things. Read my new blog www.starfishcircle.com. I've got to quickly close the floodgates on what is becoming my other full-time job.

First, I have to say I LOVE working in my kids’ schools. I love reading to preschoolers and love doing art in my son's second grade class. I look at it as a privilege to be able to do it and a gift to me when I am there. Since I've been "self-employed" (2 months) I've organized the school wide jog-a-thon, scooped at the ice cream social, chaperoned 2 field trips, coordinated decorations for another major school fundraiser, coached a soccer team and worked in a class room at least once a week. It's totally me, overcompensating for not being able to volunteer as much as I would have liked in the past year.

Today at 10:30 a.m., I got an email asking if I could help take kids to he library at 1:30 p.m. Where do I draw the line? I know that I can say no anytime, but I am now caught up being on the short list for all school emergencies. Aargh! Summer break is coming up - a break for us all.

Funny, a few months ago when I was horribly unhappy in a toxic job, I dreamed of spending more time with the kids. I know this is exactly what I wanted, just think I need to learn to how to accommodate this all without driving myself crazy. Have I lost myself in the mix? How do people work from home when parenting gets in the way of business? The balancing act of having it all has shifted and yet continues in a whole new way…