Why you should volunteer at your child’s school by Maxabella
For as long as my children have been attending them, I have been a volunteer parent at their preschool and school.
I have organised committees, created newsletters, written reports and grant applications. I’ve served at the tuckshop, baked slices, listened to reading and coached in speech presentation. I have lugged instruments, represented on interview panels, sold uniforms, written year books. I’ve photocopied music, decorated school halls, covered books, manned cake stalls and wrapped presents. I have also organised events and slept overnight at band camp!
I have enjoyed doing most of it, hated some of it, made the time for all of it.
I know ‘duty’ is an old-fashioned word that makes people think of people going into battle and not parents fronting up to the P+C (actually, the comparison is a really good one), but I believe that it’s the duty of parents to give some of their time to the public school their kids attend.
Unless you are incapacitated either physically or mentally, I can’t think of a single excuse that should keep you away.
Here’s what I mean, and the reasons I here for parents who do not volunteer:
I get that not everyone has the confidence to volunteer at their kid’s school. Some of us are shy. Some of us speak English as a second language. Some of us just don’t feel like we don’t have much to offer. But here’s the thing: you don’t have to run the spring fair committee to be helping out a school. You don’t have to have contact with the kids or even with adults if that’s not your thing.
A school has so many jobs that need willing parents to fulfill that you can find something small to do that makes a big difference. Some jobs that might be on offer at your school include:
At most schools you pick up the supplies from the office (or arrange for them to be sent home with your child), cover the books and send them back
See above
You can put your finance and accounting skills to good use and arrange for someone else to read the reports if it’s required.
It’s hard to believe the amount of photocopying required in a modern school, but photocopy we must. An hour or two at the photocopy machine is an easy way to give your time.
At our school a mum does the sushi shop on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. A team of mums cranks out the bolognese sauce and oaty slice for sale.
I don’t understand parents using the excuse of ‘time’. “I don’t have time to help at the school,” they say. “I don’t know how you find the time.”
You know what? You make time, you don’t find it. Everyone can make a little time to help create a school that’s a great place for kids to attend. The thing is, some parents just don’t want to. They make excuses, rather than time. For some reason, they’ve decided that it’s “other people’s job” to fill in all the gaps left after the teachers have done their jobs and the money from government funding has run out. Let me tell you, I’ve spent many, many hours listening to other people’s children read to me.
So, if you think you’re time-stretched (and, let’s face it, what parent isn’t), these are the kinds of jobs that might suit you:
Each year for the past four years I have overnighted at band camp. I arrive at 7pm, spend the night convincing a hoard of 15 over-excited children that sleep would be a very good idea and depart at 7am the next morning. This is the kind of one-off job that would get you off the volunteering hook for at least the rest of the year.
There are many sub-committees of most P+Cs and each requires a secretary and a treasurer. For an hour tops a week, you can do everything via email save for attending a meeting every now and then.
You can run the book club once a term with the majority of your volunteering time compressed into a single week period.
Collect entry money at the movie night, serve at the cake stall on fete day, fry sausages at the Bunnings BBQ, bring a plate to gala day, take photos at the school concert… there are loads and loads of job that only require you to show up on the day and do a set task.
Guess what – everyone with kids at primary school has young children at home. When you have a baby and a toddler as well as a school kid, things can get tricky, however I still don’t think that lets you off the hook. I did an afternoon reading session in my son’s kindy class every Friday, bringing my toddler and baby along for the session. Other jobs that might suit a young family include:
Send one parent along to the Saturday working bee while the other cares for the kids
Most classroom teachers are fine with a mum or dad bringing along the toddler to reading groups
Put your hand up to provide a plate of food at special events at school. All the work is done at home
See ‘confidence’ above
You can hit the email and try to drum up local sponsors, design the decorations or put together the list of tasks and volunteers.
It’s really not up to ‘other people’ to fill all the volunteer positions at your children’s school. It’s up to you.
If you think that the parents who make the time to fill the gaps have oodles of time on their hands or even enjoy many of the jobs they do for the school, think again. They are just parents exactly like you, wanting the best school possible for their kids and, importantly, knowing that it’s up to them to step up to make that happen.
Do you volunteer at your child’s school?
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