There are people who suggest that teaching is a good career because of its work-life balance. As the wife of a teacher, I’m wondering what that idealized work-life balance looks like.
Teachers don’t go into teaching because they want to have their summers off or vacation schedules that match those of their own children. Though many teachers do get their summers off, those summers off might look different than what you imagine. Sure, there are days spent relaxing, a welcome and well-deserved respite from all of the extra that they offer during the school year. However, much of that time off is spent getting ready for the upcoming school year, planning for and running camps, sitting in workshops or college classes to maintain their licenses, and even working extra jobs to help pay the bills.
Teachers go into teaching because they truly care about the futures of our collective children and society. To suggest anything to the contrary would be unfair to the teachers who have made this profession both their careers and lives. And oh, do I mean it when I say they make this their lives!
Teachers will inevitably refer to their students as their “kids” in conversation. During the school day, in your absence, your kids are their kids, too. Teachers’ spouses and children must accept that the parent who teaches has two sets of children: the ones at home and the ones at school.
Did you know that sometimes, in their time off, your children’s teachers may be devoting themselves to your children, before they do the same for their own children? At the expense of their own families, they may be going above and beyond for the betterment of your children. It’s something that stings a bit to say as the mother of a teacher’s children. However, as a preschool mom, it also comforts me, knowing there will be teachers in my children’s lives who will look out for them and care for them as if my children are their own.
The teachers with families at home might have to miss important pieces of their own children’s lives because of commitments they have made to the school or to particular students. They may have to watch their child’s winning home-run from a video, instead of live at the game, because they attended a competition with a school group. A Saturday night might seem like a perfect opportunity to catch the latest movie with their kids, but instead, they write letters of recommendation or plan a fundraiser for their students, knowing the movie can happen another time. On some long days, their kids don’t have a chance to see them unless they drop into the school to say hello. Family time for teachers’ families sometimes looks like getting tickets for the family to join them at a high school football game, while they continue to work. Time and time again, they come home at the end of the day to their children asking, “Daddy, will you be home to read me a bedtime story tonight or do you have to go back to school?”
Now, I realize not all teachers share the same after-school schedule as my husband, who is a high school band director. That particular position requires a physical presence at the school for afternoons, evenings, weekends, and summer rehearsals, performances, and fundraisers. Regardless, I believe all teachers and teacher families would agree that the school day is divided into two portions: the time between school bells and the time after the last bell rings. The job doesn’t end when students walk out of the building. It continues well beyond that time, in both visible and invisible ways.
As all of us parents know, raising children takes a lot of work and it certainly takes a village. Teachers play a significant role in that village. You and the teachers share a vision for your children – a belief that they deserve opportunities that will help them grow into confident and successful adults who do something special to contribute to the world around them.
If you haven’t done it lately, Teacher Appreciation Week is the perfect time to thank your children’s teachers for their steadfast devotion to your children, both during and after the school day.
