So, I quit today. Not my day job, my volunteer work as the Secretary of the Parents Council at my kids’ school.
I just looked over my calendar and realized that my time with the Parents Council seemed to be done. I’m keeping the dates for the future meetings in my book in the event something changes, but right now there are (mainly) Pre-Natal activities that will be taking up all my time until the baby is born in July. This is not to say that I’m giving up one set of kids for my new son – rather that I’m confirming priorities. Right now, my wife needs me more than Twin Oaks school does. James and Melyssa benefit from my having a relationship with the school, not by my being the Parents Council Secretary. My duties there help the Council but they’ll continue with or without me. I just made it easier and more professional for them to have complete and formatted Minutes (be it for distribution or for the web)
All this said, I bow out from my duties which is a real shame. I liked what I did there for the last three years and wished I could have done more. Unfortunately I feel so completely out of the loop of the goings-on at the school that I usually end up being frustrated and depressed at being left out. No fault of any particular person, of course, it’s just that “schools” in general don’t seem to know how to properly deal with divorced parents who truly want to be involved in what their kids are going through.
For a non-custodial parent, you have no idea how important things like up-to-date web sites are for being kept in the loop of communications, bulletins, calendars, events, etc. That’s the first/ main entry point into events, followed by contact with the teachers. And contrary to what I’ve been lobbying for the last couple of years, they aren’t ready to make a full and true committment to upkeeping their site. (shrug)
Such is life.