Previous entry: 
Next entry:
Three kids, three schools: Yikes!
I'm about to enter a new era in family chaos: three kids at three different schools, elementary, middle and high.
Each school starts at a different time (7:28 a.m. high school, 8 a.m. elementary school, 9:30 a.m. middle school), which means I will be making sure a different kid gets off at the right time for about two hours each morning, at least in the beginning. I will also be giving up my morning exercise routine until I figure out how to squeeze it in amid the comings and goings.
But on my mind even more is how to divide my volunteer time. I can't volunteer at three schools. Or can I? I am already besieged with e-mails from each school asking me to help out at back-to-school events. I have not responded to any of them, feeling like I am being disloyal to one of the kids if I pick their sibling's school.
How have you handled having kids at different schools and divvying up your volunteer efforts?
Gretchen Day-Bryant has a son in high school and a daughter in middle school. She’s lived to tell about the struggles of juggling little kids and work...
Joy Oglesby has an infant daughter and a sister 13 years her junior, whom she babies to the now-adult...
Cindy Kent Fort Lauderdale mother of three. Her kids span in ages from teenager to 20s...
Rafael Olmeda and his wife welcomed their first son in Feb. 2009, and he's helping raise two teenage stepdaughters...
Lois Solomon lives in Boca Raton with her husband and three daughters...
Anne Vasquez is the Online Editor in charge of overseeing SunSentinel.com. She is the mother of a 5-year-old boy and a newborn daughter.
Georgia East is the parent of a five-year-old girl, who came into the world weighing 1 pound, 13 ounces...
Brittany Wallman is the mother of Creed, 13, and Lily, 6, and is married...
Chris Tiedje is the Social Media Coordinator, and father of two boys and a girl all under the age of seven.
Comments
Can someone explain why Middle School starts sooo late? It doesn't make any sense to me!
Posted by: Maureen | August 13, 2008 1:21 PM
I agree! They say it's so each bus driver can drive an elementary, a middle and a high school bus route. Meanwhile, high school starts at 7:30, when all the studies show teenagers' body clocks put them in their deepest sleep at that time. The school districts need to re-evaluate these start times!
Posted by: Lois | August 13, 2008 1:26 PM
My parents did the exact same thing for a while. I am the oldest, my sister is younger by 5 years, and my brother younger than her by an additional 2. So my parents did the same thing. The best recommendation I can make is to get all of your kids up at the same time. Keeping the bedtime routine going will help all of them in the long run - and if you need to give your highschooler an extra hour to stay up, that's ok. You also need to have your highschooler start taking responsibility for getting themselves up in the morning. At 15/16 years old, that should be something they should be able to handle on their own.
As far as for the volunteer efforts - instead of volunteering to be on the PTA for each school, try backing off from all of them, but going to the major events and volunteer to help with individual class activities instead. Volunteering at any school should be about donating your time to the institutions and activities that benefit your children first and foremost, not volunteering for everything just because they ask. You already know how to say "no" to your kids - now start saying "no" to the schools.
Posted by: Jessica A | August 13, 2008 2:36 PM
My parents did the exact same thing for a while. I am the oldest, my sister is younger by 5 years, and my brother younger than her by an additional 2. So my parents did the same thing. The best recommendation I can make is to get all of your kids up at the same time. Keeping the bedtime routine going will help all of them in the long run - and if you need to give your highschooler an extra hour to stay up, that's ok. You also need to have your highschooler start taking responsibility for getting themselves up in the morning. At 15/16 years old, that should be something they should be able to handle on their own.
As far as for the volunteer efforts - instead of volunteering to be on the PTA for each school, try backing off from all of them, but going to the major events and volunteer to help with individual class activities instead. Volunteering at any school should be about donating your time to the institutions and activities that benefit your children first and foremost, not volunteering for everything just because they ask. You already know how to say "no" to your kids - now start saying "no" to the schools.
Posted by: Jessica A | August 13, 2008 2:37 PM
I take my hat off to you for wanting to volunteer at 3 schools, well done!
Posted by: Nappy Rash Baby | August 19, 2008 7:13 AM