of winter break…..the anxiety of the “January to May” stretch is mounting. You find yourself staring at a pile of grading, half watching reruns of Gossip Girl on Netflix, pondering when your Christmas trees (yes multiple, three to be exact) should be taken down, compiling a mental list of things you didn’t do over break that still need to happen like making doctor, dentist, eye, and if you’re a smart teacher, therapy appointments. Meanwhile, you’re staring out the window and admiring the first peaceful and sunny day you’ve had over break because your toddler is back at daycare whilst struggling with the guilty conscience of using daycare when you’re actually home and not working. Whoa. That’s a mouthful. But that is the definition of a teacher approaching the end of winter break.
And IF you’re rolling your eyes and thinking “oh you poor thing with 2 weeks off from work”, let me remind you of three things:
#1 I don’t get paid for these two weeks, so suck it.
#2 Have you ever met a child nearing winter break? Multiply that times 25-30.
#3 When school is in session, I never come home from work. When I am physically home after school, I am mentally going over what needs to be graded, planned and printed, copied, posted, or cut out in preparation for the next day. While I’m doing that and trying to figure out at what time after bedtime I’m actually going to execute these plans, I’m entertaining a toddler who recently read a book on how to be the biggest ahole in America (Donald Trump excluded —- das RIGHT!). On the weekends, I am juggling living my #reallife (groceries, laundry, cleaning, home improvement plans, and the coveted family time – weird that it’s last on the list …. oops) and still working on executing that same list … oh and carving out some #metime – like a face mask, a Xanax, and Netflix or something along those lines.
Do I sound defensive and ranty? That’s because I am. I have been teaching for twelve years and if you count all of the hours of unpaid work I’ve done, all of the unforeseen garbage I’ve put up with and the emotionally disturbing shit I’ve seen and dealt with, I should be making six figures. Who else does the same job for 12 years without making it at least into the 80k realm of yearly income? Okay – so lots of people maybe, but STILL. If you are a teacher, you know exactly what I’m talking about and if you aren’t, well…keep reading this blog, because you will gain all sorts of insight.
Midlife Yogi 