Parents Who Work in Schools

There are some definite pluses and minuses to working in a school, but not the one any of your children attend.  Today is one of those mainly positive situations.  I have an institute day and my kids all have school.  The only minus is that there was no sleeping in.  Tom and I still had to get up at the break of dawn to get Miles to preschool in Elk Grove and Emmett to school in Evanston.  The positives today, however, are numerous.  Right now I'm in one of the awesome Arlington Heights Memorial Library studios learning how to convert vinyl to CD.  It is fun and helps me help patrons when I work the desk.  We started with Stevie Wonder "Innervisions," which once belonged to my stepdad.  Pure awesomeness.  Now we are recording Pagnini's 24 Caprices for Solo Violin by Itzhak Perlman.  A bit of a whiplash from the other record, but also pure awesomeness.  My hubby is sick so he is tagging along to keep me company.  Oh, we also have a belly full of Starbucks pastries - something we also never get to do.

After this, the day continues with a childless lunch for two.  Then we are the Mystery Readers in Sarah's classroom today.  Something else we never get to do.  And did I mention that it is a gorgeous fall day?  Pure bliss all the way around.

Here is a list of those pluses and minuses I mentioned:

Minus

• not being able to go to school functions because you are needed at your own school (example, Lydia in 1st grade not understanding why I couldn't be at HER Valentine's Party when I had my own classroom party to be at)
• not having breaks and holidays line up
• travel time and distance
• having to work school functions your own kids can't come to
• different start/end times which make before or after school conferences with your kids' teachers next to impossible
• extra money spent for before/aftercare (though other professions have that one too)
• our kids' teachers are sometimes wary of us because, let's face it, educator parents can be a "know it all" bunch
• limited number of sick/personal days to care for sick children (or yourself).  We have a sick bank at my school for if I get some horrible long-lasting illness, but if my kids get one - too bad - I can't use the sick bank :(

Plus

• getting different breaks and holidays.  I know that I already listed this as a minus but sometimes it's a plus because I get a break and get things done that I wouldn't otherwise if they were home with me.
• I know a lot about what is going on at their schools because I also live it at my own
• sometimes teachers are kindred spirits because we know schools and understand what they go through better than other professionals
• summers together!!!
• Christmas break together and sometimes spring break too
• except for conferences and Tom's catering events, we are home most nights for family dinner and bedtime.  When one of us isn't home, there is always FaceTime! (See earlier post on this.)

And now, back to enjoying our day off without children.  Have a great weekend, Everyone!