That said, I am sick and tired of organizations, schools, sports, etc. that cater only to households where a parent stays at home. Come on, it is 2009 and there are tons and tons of households where two parents either have to or choose to work outside the home.
1. The schools. Caleb is doing some summer school this summer to continue to work on his reading. We first discussed this with his teacher (who was/is awesome and I know this up-and-coming complaint has nothing to do with her) back at conferences in March. Yes March. We were told it would be held from June 22 through July 14 and would be a 6 hour day. All great and good, except neither of us work a 6-hour day. Now I could have made arrangements for Caleb to go to his summer camp program for an hour and a half a day, but that would have been to the tune of $220 a week. Hmmmm, $220 for 7 1/2 hours of care? Sorry, no can do.
My mom graciously agreed to help with picking up Caleb a few days a week and I would shift my schedule a few days a week. Problem was, we had no idea what time school began or ended. I called the school system office weekly from March until the last week of school. (Yes, I am sure they loooove me.) Kept being told it's a bussing issue and they didn't know if the day would run form 7:30-1:30 or 8:45-2:45. Come on! First of all, we all had to sign up for summer school back in March, so it was pretty clear who was attending and what the bus routes would need to be. On the last day of school, June 9 a letter came home with his bus route time and school hours on it. Giving us working parents a whopping two weeks to arrange for care.
2. Swimming lessons. Our kids need to learn how to swim. I mean really learn how. They have an okay doggy paddle. But it's time to get this done. I know there are plenty of lessons at the local Y and community ed on the weekends. But frankly, as a family with two parents who work outside the home (and inside the home, too, thankyouverymuch) the last thing we want is to book up our weekends. I knew our local swimming pool...no, let's rephrase that, our COMMUNITY pool, offered swimming lessons so I went to their web site to check it out. And do they ever offer swimming lessons. About 40 options to pick from. And every single one of them was offered at 9:00, 10:00 or 11:00 a.m. on WEEKDAYS! Awesome. Thanks a lot guys.
3. Soccer practice. Caleb and Noah are both playing soccer through our community leagues. Many of the parents show up to coach or cheer the kids on in heels, suits, skirts and dress shirts. Yet for some inane reason, Caleb's team is holding their practices at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday nights. Clearly, we all signed up for soccer that has games at 6:00 or 7:15 at night for a reason. While I am fortunate enough to have a job where I can say "Hey my kid is in summer school so for the next few weeks, I have to leave early two days a week to get him..." I cannot and will not leave work for 7-year-old soccer.
So there it is. My "I am sick of this" post.
1 comments:
you, pete, brian and i can wax poetic about this next week. we have our definite thoughts as well. and sometimes, you just gotta rant.
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