Burnt out parent volunteers

[Anonymous]

Volunteering it that ~ it's volunteering. If something really needs to get done, they need to hire someone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Think back to your elementary school years. How many bingo nights/restaurant nights/carnivals etc did they have? 3 a year? Now it's 3 a month. It's too much.

This. Its all part of this "performative parenting/parenting as a competitive sport" phenomenon.

Yesssss! Make it stop. This is #1 reason I won’t join the PTA. No one wants the fundraisers, activities and extras outside of school hours. They just want educational stuff for their kids.

[Anonymous]

Volunteers have a shelf-life, OP.

I was on the board of a PTA organization for 5-6 years until I felt I could no longer provide creative solutions, at which point I found my replacement and left on cordial terms.

[Anonymous]

It's because every year there are fewer and fewer people volunteering to help. I am considering quitting my kid's Girl Scout troop because it's way too much work and the other parents don't do anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Think back to your elementary school years. How many bingo nights/restaurant nights/carnivals etc did they have? 3 a year? Now it's 3 a month. It's too much.

Where do you live that you're having three fundraisers a month?? My kids' school has at most one thing a month (maybe every other month).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Volunteers have a shelf-life, OP.

I was on the board of a PTA organization for 5-6 years until I felt I could no longer provide creative solutions, at which point I found my replacement and left on cordial terms.

And to the parents complaining that the PTA does nothing useful, our most important work was:
1. With other PTAs, provide a bulwark against real estate developers in the pockets of MCPS central office and county government to bring them to the table and force them to provide data that can later be used against them (they never keep their promises), in relation to building moratoriums around our overcrowded schools.
2. Raise large amounts of money to buy or maintain Promethium boards, playground equipment, recess games, maker-type activities, monetary support for the few MCPS instructional allotments that allow private funds, including paying teachers to tutor after school, as well as cultural and artistic residences for artists to stay for weeks and provide enrichment to students.
3. Discreetly identify, feed and clothe the portion of kids that needed it (and a provide a pantry for vacations), as well as develop liaisons with multiple ESOL populations that enroll their kids in our very international school, to support their needs.

PTAs can and do support really important academic and socio-economic endeavors. It's not your Grandma's bake sale. I don't think we ever had a bake sale, in fact.

[Anonymous]

I like the shelf-life comment. I would add to that: no task or project should be specific-person-dependent. Like if that person isn't around, it doesn't happen. Honestly, it should be a main goal of leading any organization. The organization has got to have a deep bench or the organization's goals need to be severely scaled back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Think back to your elementary school years. How many bingo nights/restaurant nights/carnivals etc did they have? 3 a year? Now it's 3 a month. It's too much.

Where do you live that you're having three fundraisers a month?? My kids' school has at most one thing a month (maybe every other month).

The thing is, most people don’t actually want to paint ceiling tiles or play bingo or watch a movie on the gym floor or whatever other crap is creating all the work for the PTO volunteers. I don’t do any of that. I do help re-sort all the leveled readers at the end of the year because it’s a big job and it’s actually needed and helpful.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I do do school volunteering, but pre-COVID I probably averaged 5-10 hours a week of volunteering (I work full time). Since March 2020, I just don't have the focus/energy/will. That was totally understandable when COVID started and I was working and pandemic schooling and dealing with the general stress, but now I don't really understand what's up with me. I miss my volunteer work, I enjoyed it and it helped me feel really connected to my community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I do do school volunteering, but pre-COVID I probably averaged 5-10 hours a week of volunteering (I work full time). Since March 2020, I just don't have the focus/energy/will. That was totally understandable when COVID started and I was working and pandemic schooling and dealing with the general stress, but now I don't really understand what's up with me. I miss my volunteer work, I enjoyed it and it helped me feel really connected to my community.

^^Don't do

[Anonymous]

Why don't you just stop? It's volunteer. If you keep committing to things you can't follow through on, then the problem really becomes one of your own making. Tell the organizations you're sorry, but you can't commit the time to continue in that position, and wouldn't want to let people down. And just stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Volunteers have a shelf-life, OP.

I was on the board of a PTA organization for 5-6 years until I felt I could no longer provide creative solutions, at which point I found my replacement and left on cordial terms.

And to the parents complaining that the PTA does nothing useful, our most important work was:
1. With other PTAs, provide a bulwark against real estate developers in the pockets of MCPS central office and county government to bring them to the table and force them to provide data that can later be used against them (they never keep their promises), in relation to building moratoriums around our overcrowded schools.
2. Raise large amounts of money to buy or maintain Promethium boards, playground equipment, recess games, maker-type activities, monetary support for the few MCPS instructional allotments that allow private funds, including paying teachers to tutor after school, as well as cultural and artistic residences for artists to stay for weeks and provide enrichment to students.
3. Discreetly identify, feed and clothe the portion of kids that needed it (and a provide a pantry for vacations), as well as develop liaisons with multiple ESOL populations that enroll their kids in our very international school, to support their needs.

PTAs can and do support really important academic and socio-economic endeavors. It's not your Grandma's bake sale. I don't think we ever had a bake sale, in fact.

This thread was not about the PTA, and OP said she doesn't even do PTA work, so stop hijacking the thread in order to brag about all your achievements (which, based on my experience with PTA, are most certainly way overblown and fail to include the harmful effects of the outsized influence of a small group of upper income women on the school population at large).

[Anonymous]

Take turns to volunteer for different organizations if you must participate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Volunteers have a shelf-life, OP.

I was on the board of a PTA organization for 5-6 years until I felt I could no longer provide creative solutions, at which point I found my replacement and left on cordial terms.

And to the parents complaining that the PTA does nothing useful, our most important work was:
1. With other PTAs, provide a bulwark against real estate developers in the pockets of MCPS central office and county government to bring them to the table and force them to provide data that can later be used against them (they never keep their promises), in relation to building moratoriums around our overcrowded schools.
2. Raise large amounts of money to buy or maintain Promethium boards, playground equipment, recess games, maker-type activities, monetary support for the few MCPS instructional allotments that allow private funds, including paying teachers to tutor after school, as well as cultural and artistic residences for artists to stay for weeks and provide enrichment to students.
3. Discreetly identify, feed and clothe the portion of kids that needed it (and a provide a pantry for vacations), as well as develop liaisons with multiple ESOL populations that enroll their kids in our very international school, to support their needs.

PTAs can and do support really important academic and socio-economic endeavors. It's not your Grandma's bake sale. I don't think we ever had a bake sale, in fact.

classic PTA mom hypocrisy. “We discreetly help the poor kids whilst campaigning against affordable housing!”

[Anonymous]

I'll start volunteering at school when they give my kids a textbook and homework.