Lizzie, David and Lucy keep me insanely busy! Then of course I have this blog, the cooking, the cleaning and taking care of myself. I have learned how to say no to requests on my time that I know I cannot afford. I currently only volunteer in two places – my church and La Leche League. I know Lizzie’s school would love me to help them out, but I just can’t give what I do not have.
What about you? Where do you volunteer? How in the heck do you find time to do it? I am struggling with my Leche League duties because my kids and my blog are taking so much out of me that I honestly run out of time to give, but I do what I can.
And to humorously illustrate my point, I made a vlog. At first I just wanted to discuss volunteering, but David decided to make the point evident in a very funny way!
Volunteering took over my life prior to homeschooling!
Auctions, fashion shows, room mom, girl scouts ….
Go on field trips when you can, attend class parties and bring the stuff they need, read a story in the library … do the stuff that matters to your kids – trust me, been there, done that.
Burn out!
You said it – volunteering can take over your life. I can also understand how homeschooling can free up your life. I mean on one hand, with kids in another school you have “free time” right? But then school organizations totally suck all that time up. With homsechooling you have your kids at home, but more “free time” because the orgs aren’t asking you to help. I never thought of it that way before!
I don’t volunteer. Ask me when my kids are both in school so in about 4 years.
Exactly! It is near impossible to find the time with babies and toddlers to care for.
Let’s just put it this way. I shaved my legs for the first time in 2 months last week. TWO MONTHS! I barely have enough time to wash body parts, let alone shave my legs or volunteer.
Oh Cat, I am with you! If I want my hair to look decent I have a baby and a toddler watching me, clinging to my legs and asking for apple juice. I wonder if I will have more time to give when they all grow up into gradeschool LOL
I volunteer at both of my boys school. I’m on the parents board at the preschool and participate in every single party/field trip that I possibly can for Big T. It is a huge time suck. But I love to see them experience these things. So I suck it up, exhaustion and all.
This summer (while I was pregnant) I volunteered to help with bible school. It was stupid. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have been on my feet that much, but I didn’t want to drive back and forth to town, and I wasn’t confident my 2 year old could handle a whole morning by herself (and esp. with pottying). Turns out she was just fine. *rolls eyes* I mean, it was a great experience and I would do it again, but I could have done SO much at home with 5 whole mornings to myself. Idiot. My husband takes her into the church ‘after school’ group that started in September. He gets home in time to wind down, go to the bathroom, change his clothes, grab a snack, and head back in. It’s weekly on Mondays, so it’s over with for the week. Again, he doesn’t want to drive back and forth to town, and I didn’t want to haul 2 kids to town for an hour and a half. He, on the other hand, was willing to volunteer his time. They put him with the 5th and 6th graders. Basically he tells them to be quiet a lot. Keeley has a safe spot if she needs it (but apparently, she doesn’t)… and I get a tiny window of peace and quiet in my Mondays. Yes, I spend that time cleaning and caring for a newborn. But it is QUIET! My thoughts are, if you are going to be there anyway, and you have talent for it, then DO IT! I saw on facebook my cousin’s kid was playing ball and they had to cancel it because the pitching machine broke down. It was one step above tball. You tell me what’s wrong with that. Where were the parents of all these kids? Couldn’t one of them have volunteered to pitch? Or taken turns? I asked him, and he said ‘we don’t do that here’… WT#? Seriously? Whatever. I don’t have talent for everything and I know that, but if it requires very little, I can easily do it. This summer Brennan will be able to be worn or sit in a high chair or bumbo type of thing, so I may volunteer to do kitchen stuff instead of classroom stuff for bible school. The baby would be a distraction in the classroom. Yes, I could stay home, and maybe I’ll make that decision later, but I COULD do that, even with a baby in tow. I think that’s the key. You have to 1. be there, 2. have the talent and 3. be able to work around your kids. Some things only have one or two meetings a year, some things are weekly, etc. Some things you can ‘give’ instead of time ($, publicity, etc)… Even though my husband volunteers time, we also sent 2 big bags of animal crackers for the kid’s weekly snacks. They are feeding my kid a snack every week, so I should provide it at least once, don’t you think? They appreciate my husband’s time more, probably, but it was something *I* could do. I WISH I could have baked *real* cookies, but they don’t allow that 🙁
I don’t volunteer for much – I am always up for helping at the school, but C isn’t allowed in the workroom, so I tell J’s teacher that I will do any “mommy homework” she wants to send home. (EX: Another parent laminates something and then it gets sent home and I cut it out.) For his GT class, volunteering there is pretty easy because all of those things are after school – so my husband can watch C while I go help with whatever.
GOOD LUCK!!
Things are so crazy right now with newborn/little ones that our volunteering is taking a back seat. Instead, we are focusing on tithing, financial giving opportunities and prayer commitments as a way to make up for the fact we can’t offer our hands right now.
I volunteer in my church in the children’s programs during church and during sunday school, I sing on the worship team, I’m planning a marriage retreat for this spring, I’m the moppets coordinator for my MOPS group. I have a 3 year old that goes to preschool 3 afternoons a week and a 2 year old and a 6 month old. Volunteering has ALWAYS been a part of my life so that’s just what I do. Yea it can make some weeks insanely busy but someone has to do it so kids have someone to teach them and be there for them and be an example.