What DO you do for your job?
Today the kids don't have school. Icy roads are the culprit. The kids were so excited to see the blue ticker on the bottom of the tv screen go from "2-hour delay" to "Closed". I was less excited. Not because I don't like to spend time with my kids, I do, I really do. But they had yesterday off school for a staff development day, so I took a vacation day. Monday the week before they had off for MLK day, so I took a vacation day. Monday and Tuesday of winter break, Monday and Tuesday of Spring Break, vacation day, vacation day, vacation day, vacation day...you see a pattern? Kids have a lot of school off. I get 15 days of vacation, but with all the time my kids have off school, those days are gone pretty quick.
So today I didn't take a vacation day, I brought my three kids to work. Not a busy office, a nature center, so not as painful for them to come here as maybe a kid whose Mom works someplace else, but still. I AM working and they don't really get what that means. They keep coming in my office and seeing me on the computer. My two oldest have each asked me, "Mom what DO you do for your job?" I have worked here 5 years and they don't know what I do for my job??? That's the problem with working for a not-for-profit. I don't spend my days making something or selling something. I work to keep the place up and running and to help pay people's paychecks. That involves A LOT of things: grant writing, fundraising, meetings, thank-yous, programming, facility decisions, more meetings, etc., etc. None of those words mean much to three kids under 13 years old. They probably don't mean much to many adults. But I have a good job, that I think is important, at least to people that value the environment, so I am here, doing...well...stuff.
posted by Elaine @ 1:31 PM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
Your kids might not know ALL the specifics of your job, but the do get the nature, no pun intended, of what you do. You, and for that matter all Tanglewood employees, work hard to keep Tanglewood thriving, you work to do your part in making our world a better place. You do that by all the things you stated, but more importantly you do it by the way you live your life day in and day out. Being a friend to the environment isn't just a job, it is a way of life and you show that to ALL those in contact with you. So while your kids might not know exactly what Mom does day in day out, they have a good idea of what the result of your going to work everyday is. And it is much more important than making or selling some "thing".
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