Quitting Time?

I normally really like being a teacher, but there's one thing that is really tough. Even you non-teachers would have to agree with me on this one. If you have small children at home like I do, you can never really get away from you job. It's like a 24-7 job for which you get paid less than half the time you work!

Now, I'm not really complaining. I do love my boys. I also know that it doesn't matter if you teach or do any other job. If you have small kids, you've got to go home to them. But with other jobs, at least your children are a change of pace. I dream of the day when I can go home for some adult conversation with my wife without being constantly interrupted with tattles, screaming, and homework questions. To be able to get a drink, put my feet up, and read the paper without feeling guilty about not being a good dad.

Then I realize that what I've got IS short-lived. My kids are aging before my eyes and I don't even realize it. Someday I will have the time to do those other things and I will probably long for the "good 'ol days" when life wasn't so boring!

Isn't that human nature? The grass is always greener on the other side... until you get over there. There's always another fence and a different patch of grass. The question is... will you enjoy it when you get there? Or look back at what you once had, or even keep looking ahead to something that will probably never quite be what you expect?

I know what I've got to do... In the immortal words of a teaching colleague of mine: "Suck it up, Buttercup!". And a classic line from a classic song, "Summer of '69" by Bryan Adams- "Ain't no use in complaining, When you got a job to do...". I know the job, now I've got to do it!

Come on dads, suck it up and do the job!

Till next time,

Kurt