I got a call from Matt today asking if we could get a babysitter for this Friday night. He has a work function and has requested my presence.
Normally, I quite enjoy getting a babysitter and heading out on the town but today I rolled my eyes, grumbled, and said "do I really need to go with you?"
My regular, perfectly sweet and yet stern babysitter is not available this Friday night and until Matt's call today, I refused to put put forth any effort to find another sitter.
I texted my untested back-up sitter and it turns out she is available. Great.
Then I immediately texted my superstar sitter and asked if she can watch the kids for the Seahawks game in mid-November. I assumed she would. I was wrong. Someone with season tickets to the Seahawks game contracted her for every single game until the end of time. So disappointed.
Not only do I not get her this Friday, I don't get her for the game and to add insult to injury she told me she was decommissioning herself for the rest of the year. WHAT???
I am not happy.
Turns out she is taking all AP and Honors classes and has a bunch of projects and homework that are dragging her down. Why couldn't she just be a regular high school student? Why honors? Sub-par or barely passing would be fine with me. I don't need her to be super smart and get a million scholarships to her school of choice in Texas! No, I need her to stay around and have no life other than babysit for my rascally boys.
I sat down with some afternoon coffee all grumpy and irritated.
Then my brain flashed back to 8:35 this morning.
That was the time when someone informed me that two of the students I see everyday are technically homeless.
Home. Less. Without a home.
One lives in an RV with two other families that is parked somewhere around town. The other is camping at a campground.
I have a friend who is currently living in a 5th wheel in a campground in Colorado...while waiting on her house to close escrow. Different story. These kids are not waiting for their new home to be ready, they are in their home. Be it a tent or motor home, it is their home.
I'm pretty sure they are not living in one of those fancy Airstream RV's either. My guess is that it is similar to the one that parks by my local Safeway. It looks like it barely runs, it is dirty, the uncovered windows reveal an old tattered interior with junk piled high. And outside the front door sits two or three kids playing on the Safeway sidewalk...also known as their front yard. The RV can't park there for too long, so it usually disappears for a day or two and returns later maybe parked a little closer to Lowe's this time.
30% of the students in my school district are homeless. For district purposes that means, living in a hotel, campground, shelter, abandoned building, or staying at a friend or relative's home due to lack of housing.
So kudos to their parents, who despite some obvious difficult circumstances, get their kids to school most of the time.
Shame on me, for getting wrapped up in my big "problem" of not having my favorite babysitter for the upcoming days I'll be going on a date with my husband...who happens to be both my baby's daddy, a guy who holds a job, and has never been incarcerated for drugs, murder, or assault.
I challenge you to do something you may have never considered before. Head down to your local school, or a school in a less fortunate area of town and ask the secretary if that school has any kids who need warm coats, or food for the weekend.
Sure you can sell your old coats and sweaters, old shoes and jeans... but what if you could directly impact the life of a local student in your school? How much more valuable would that be than the buck or two you get from some old jeans?
Schools in our district offer coats to kids in need and through a cooperation with the local food bank provide food for students to take home on Fridays. Food for the weekend for fear they will not eat if they don't have it.
Today one of those homeless girls came in to my classroom with a t-shirt and jeans on. It was 42 degrees outside. I had on a sweater, coat, and gloves. And now I wonder....does she have a coat?
I had no idea that children in my school and in my kids' schools were homeless and hungry. But they are, and chances are there are some children near you who are too.
Normally, I quite enjoy getting a babysitter and heading out on the town but today I rolled my eyes, grumbled, and said "do I really need to go with you?"
My regular, perfectly sweet and yet stern babysitter is not available this Friday night and until Matt's call today, I refused to put put forth any effort to find another sitter.
I texted my untested back-up sitter and it turns out she is available. Great.
Then I immediately texted my superstar sitter and asked if she can watch the kids for the Seahawks game in mid-November. I assumed she would. I was wrong. Someone with season tickets to the Seahawks game contracted her for every single game until the end of time. So disappointed.
Not only do I not get her this Friday, I don't get her for the game and to add insult to injury she told me she was decommissioning herself for the rest of the year. WHAT???
I am not happy.
Turns out she is taking all AP and Honors classes and has a bunch of projects and homework that are dragging her down. Why couldn't she just be a regular high school student? Why honors? Sub-par or barely passing would be fine with me. I don't need her to be super smart and get a million scholarships to her school of choice in Texas! No, I need her to stay around and have no life other than babysit for my rascally boys.
I sat down with some afternoon coffee all grumpy and irritated.
Then my brain flashed back to 8:35 this morning.
That was the time when someone informed me that two of the students I see everyday are technically homeless.
Home. Less. Without a home.
One lives in an RV with two other families that is parked somewhere around town. The other is camping at a campground.
I have a friend who is currently living in a 5th wheel in a campground in Colorado...while waiting on her house to close escrow. Different story. These kids are not waiting for their new home to be ready, they are in their home. Be it a tent or motor home, it is their home.
I'm pretty sure they are not living in one of those fancy Airstream RV's either. My guess is that it is similar to the one that parks by my local Safeway. It looks like it barely runs, it is dirty, the uncovered windows reveal an old tattered interior with junk piled high. And outside the front door sits two or three kids playing on the Safeway sidewalk...also known as their front yard. The RV can't park there for too long, so it usually disappears for a day or two and returns later maybe parked a little closer to Lowe's this time.
30% of the students in my school district are homeless. For district purposes that means, living in a hotel, campground, shelter, abandoned building, or staying at a friend or relative's home due to lack of housing.
So kudos to their parents, who despite some obvious difficult circumstances, get their kids to school most of the time.
Shame on me, for getting wrapped up in my big "problem" of not having my favorite babysitter for the upcoming days I'll be going on a date with my husband...who happens to be both my baby's daddy, a guy who holds a job, and has never been incarcerated for drugs, murder, or assault.
I challenge you to do something you may have never considered before. Head down to your local school, or a school in a less fortunate area of town and ask the secretary if that school has any kids who need warm coats, or food for the weekend.
Sure you can sell your old coats and sweaters, old shoes and jeans... but what if you could directly impact the life of a local student in your school? How much more valuable would that be than the buck or two you get from some old jeans?
Schools in our district offer coats to kids in need and through a cooperation with the local food bank provide food for students to take home on Fridays. Food for the weekend for fear they will not eat if they don't have it.
Today one of those homeless girls came in to my classroom with a t-shirt and jeans on. It was 42 degrees outside. I had on a sweater, coat, and gloves. And now I wonder....does she have a coat?
I had no idea that children in my school and in my kids' schools were homeless and hungry. But they are, and chances are there are some children near you who are too.
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