If you switched careers to have summers off to be with your kids...

[Anonymous]

My kids would be miserable in camps all summer. They love the unstructured summer time! We have tons of stay-at-home moms with kids in our neighborhood, so there is never a time when they can't find someone to play with. And they practically live at the pool.

They also love to sleep in!

I guess it's all in what you are used to. My youngest will go to scout camp for a week this summer. And we'll take a week or two for a vacation. But other than that, summer is their free time.

[Anonymous]

How can people be bored with the gazillion things to do around here? I teach high school (also a science career switcher) and I couldn't be happier. I spent the first few summers in the lab to "keep up" and then decided to hell with that. I now belong to a pool and my friends show up in the evenings. During the day we play there or go to museums, see monuments, hike through forests, build forts, take day trips to the beach... I could go on and on. I make "theme weeks" and we plan things to do around that. This year they will be in a couple of weeks of camp and I'm sad about it actually. I'm actually kind of sad to hear that people would be bored with their "whining" kids. Doesn't anyone see that as weird on multiple levels?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How can people be bored with the gazillion things to do around here? I teach high school (also a science career switcher) and I couldn't be happier. I spent the first few summers in the lab to "keep up" and then decided to hell with that. I now belong to a pool and my friends show up in the evenings. During the day we play there or go to museums, see monuments, hike through forests, build forts, take day trips to the beach... I could go on and on. I make "theme weeks" and we plan things to do around that. This year they will be in a couple of weeks of camp and I'm sad about it actually. I'm actually kind of sad to hear that people would be bored with their "whining" kids. Doesn't anyone see that as weird on multiple levels?

Well, like a PP said, parenting is different now and gone are the days when the kids took off and came home for lunch, and went back out with a pack of kids. And if you aren't into the pool, it's hard. Me, and my kids, are the palest people on earth, skin cancer is in my family, it's not even safe for us. It's fine once a while but it's not something we could do every day. A week at the beach is awesome, but it's not really practical to do many day trips there. It's great that you have fun and do things like theme weeks, but I don't know why you'd judge others for not seeing that as fun. Everyone has different ideas of what is fun and it certainly doesn't mean they don't love their kids or are "weird."

[Anonymous]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned that wanting summers off is not really a compelling reason to go back to teaching. High school teaching is incredibly challenging and time consuming. You will bring home work every night and your time with your children during the months other than summer will be compromised.

[Anonymous]

right on target, sister (or brother)!

I speak from experience. I'll also add that b/c teaching is so emotionally draining, I'm more than grateful to have my summers off with my two children - even if it means being bored to tears on some days. My kids also aren't always on the go. They're used to down time and do enjoy each other's company.

So it's all in how they're raised, too, I suppose.

different strokes

So, OP, the PP below makes the most valid point of all. Teaching is not about summers off. If that's the force behind your decision, you'll most likely leave or be driven out of the profession b/c kids can see right through that.

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised no one has mentioned that wanting summers off is not really a compelling reason to go back to teaching. High school teaching is incredibly challenging and time consuming. You will bring home work every night and your time with your children during the months other than summer will be compromised.

[Anonymous]

If you're going to teach, you need to do it for the right reasons not just for summers off.

We haven't hit this yet - but I expect that we'd do a camp or two and a vacation and then downtime and daytrips for the rest of the time. I don't see why we should treat summer vacation like any other day with packing lunches and rushing out the door every morning...

[Anonymous]

Teaching is way too challenging to do for any other reason than because it's what you love to do. Teaching can be hard, and stressful, and time consuming, and an emotional roller coaster. For some people, like me, it's all worth it because it's something I love, but it doesn't sound like that's true for the OP. The fact that I love what I do is the only thing that gets me through the night after I've made a difficult CPS call, or skipped my kid's school performance because it conflicted with ours, or whatever. I wouldn't want to do any other job, but I also wouldn't want to do this job simply for summers off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised no one has mentioned that wanting summers off is not really a compelling reason to go back to teaching. High school teaching is incredibly challenging and time consuming. You will bring home work every night and your time with your children during the months other than summer will be compromised.

Exactly. Please don't teach just because the hours work with your schedule. You have to want to be a teacher and be excited about it. Not to mention, these days, there is a lot of PD in the school districts around here, so you might not get as much time home as you want.

I was a teacher before I had kids, and I actually think it's a much less flexible job than people think. Now, if DD is sick, I just let my boss know and head home. If she's sick a couple days, I can work from home a little and take sick leave. As a teacher, I would have to line up a sub and make up sub plans. If you're planning to be a secondary science teacher, you would also likely need to stay after with some students for extra help, etc. Now, I know you could call it a day right as the bell rings, but I wouldn't want a teacher who's just punching a timecard.

[Anonymous]

To echo what others have said, going in to teaching because you want summers off is a pretty crappy reason. It would be like joining the military because you like to travel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:right on target, sister (or brother)!

I speak from experience. I'll also add that b/c teaching is so emotionally draining, I'm more than grateful to have my summers off with my two children - even if it means being bored to tears on some days. My kids also aren't always on the go. They're used to down time and do enjoy each other's company.

So it's all in how they're raised, too, I suppose.

different strokes

Also, different personalities. And different family situations.

Some kids are just by nature more extroverted than others. It is one thing to spend a few weeks in the company of your mom and younger sibling, but 8 weeks time primarly spent with the same people is another matter, for kids who really crave the companionship of their peers.

You really need to assess your own children's needs and temperament, the dynamics of the neighborhood you live in, and your own temperament before you will know whether summers off with your children is something worth making a major job change for.

[Anonymous]

Whoops, OP here, my original post was indeed far too vague for people to understand my position. I have taught high school so I know just how draining it is. And my original career goal was to be a professor. Teaching is something that I love; I sacrificed that when I realized just how many postdocs I would need to do in order to become a prof. At that time, I was ready to start my family, and finished my PhD and took a somewhat under-stimulating 9-5. Now that the kids are getting older, I'm exploring other options, and was specifically curious how big a benefit teacher moms consider summers to be. Thanks everybody for your thoughtful responses!

[Anonymous]

I think the time off from teaching is a mixed bag.

On one hand, you get the whole summer off which is nice. Spring Break and Winter Break coinciding with your child are even nicer. On the other hand, you lose a lot of flexibility that other professions have. Coming in an hour late so you can hand carry in the cupcakes for their birthday at school, or taking an extra hour at lunch so that you can watch your child play the Santa Maria in the Columbus day skit, are pretty much impossible. Making phone calls to schedule doctor's appointments can be challenging. If you're in the same school district as your child professional days and parent-teacher conference days are some of the hardest days to find childcare, and yet pretty much impossible for you to be out.

If you have a spouse or partner who is willing to take on all those things, it can be a nice balance.

The other issue is using up all your "kid energy". I very specifically made a choice to change age groups when my child came close in age to my students. It's hard to find patience for particular age related behaviors when you have dealt with them all day, whether it's preschool aged whining, or asking why over and over again, or middle school moodiness.

I love teaching, I think it's all worth it, but there are trade offs. I'm not sure it's any more child friendly than any other high stress profession. If you love it, it's definitely doable, and it sounds like maybe you'd love it more than what you do now. In that case I'd say go for it!

[Anonymous]

As a teacher, I couldn't wait to do fun things with my DD over the summer...all the great things I felt we missed during the school year that happen during the week. However, by the time she was old enough to really start "enjoying" those types of things (2 yrs), she missed her daycare friends! I felt terribly guilty for pulling her out. She's now in preschool and we pay for the full year. While she will likely miss many more days over the summer and/or attend for 1/2 day on many days so we can do fun things, she's happier when she has the opportunity to go several days a week.

One of the things that I do appreciate about being a teacher and a mother is that most of the preschool holidays/breaks line up with mine so I don't have to worry about taking leave.

[Anonymous]

I'm a teacher and sooooo look forward to summers off. I usually sign my DD up for 2 camps in the summer just for something to look forward to. My friends in the neighborhood are either SAHMs or teachers too so there are usually plenty of kids to play with. We usually take one day trip each week to somewhere new (Luray Caverns, state parks, museums, etc). Toward the end of the summer, we do get bored but one camp is usually at the beginning of Aug. I have always been a teacher so I don't know anything else but I wouldn't have it any other way. My DD is exhausted by the get up and go of school everyday so she loves when she can sleep in a little bit and have some choice about what to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How can people be bored with the gazillion things to do around here? I teach high school (also a science career switcher) and I couldn't be happier. I spent the first few summers in the lab to "keep up" and then decided to hell with that. I now belong to a pool and my friends show up in the evenings. During the day we play there or go to museums, see monuments, hike through forests, build forts, take day trips to the beach... I could go on and on. I make "theme weeks" and we plan things to do around that. This year they will be in a couple of weeks of camp and I'm sad about it actually. I'm actually kind of sad to hear that people would be bored with their "whining" kids. Doesn't anyone see that as weird on multiple levels?

Umm...do you actually live in this area?


I ask because most summers are so hot and humid that dragging the kids around DC for the day becomes a chore, hiking through the forests (?!) loses its appeal with all the mosquitos, ticks, and heat. Day trips to the beach? - well sure, after you wait for rush hour traffic to let up and then make sure you don't get caught in it on the way back - you might get what a couple hours if that at the beach. Woo Hoo! Fun, fun - a hot, humid day spent with more time in the car then out of it. What kids wouldn't look forward to that?

The reality of doing stuff in the summer around here never quite matches the ideal. People still go to work so there is still rush hours - both on the roads AND on the train, couple that with extreme heat and humidity on many days, and you need to plan to be inside and close by home during the week.