Sometimes I think it’s harder to be a WAH parent than one working in a traditional workplace. The flexibility in my schedule is both a blessing and curse. While I have a general schedule that I stick to, it seems my children’s school has decided that it needs a good chunk of my time.
Not that I’m complaining. I love their school. It’s been good for both of them and I am completely satisfied with communication with the administration and teachers.
I don’t like the spring schedule. Not the kids’ individual schedules, but the field trips, pep rallies, and assemblies that come with it. It’s almost baseball season, so the local semi-pro team has already announced a couple of education days – free admission for students who perform well on this next report card. The workaholic in me sees this as just another school day, but the mom in me wants to take the day to hang at the ballpark. Despite the kids’ objections that is. I’m supposed to be spoken of, but not seen by their friends I suppose.
The real problem with the schedule conflict is the guilt. Guilt of missing a trip or event vs. the guilt of putting my work aside. I have put the work aside with every intention of completing it within a few days and miscalculated. I have skipped the event only to discover late that the kids really wanted me there. Guilt overload!
But what do you do? I look at the task at hand to guesstimate how much time it would take to finish. (Yes, I said guesstimate. Sue me.) If it is something that I can tackle successfully by putting in an extra hour or two later in the day, I take the time off to spend with the kids. If it requires more intensive attention, I either keep to my schedule or plan to put in late night hours for a while. Is this the ideal solution? It is for me.
My kids are older and don’t always let me know how much it mans to them to see me and/or hubby there for them. The looks on their faces say it all.
What about you? What do you do when faced with the last-minute schedule change?
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