Family vs. Work

I love movies..... a lot. I've seen tons of them and a few popped into my mind recently when I began thinking about this blog entry. Lean on Me, Dangerous Minds, Stand and Deliver, The Ron Clark Story, Freedom Writers, these are just a few that fit the classic genre of inspirational educators saving kids in a difficult environment. I figured out long ago one common thing among all of the lead characters in these movies, they all work way too hard and have no life outside of school.

If the educator's family life is shown at all in the movie, its usually because their relationship goes bad due to overcommitment. For the last couple of years I could of never been one of those lead characters because, although I always work hard and maximize my time between 7-3, I relished my time at home without a lot to do. I told myself, well, if you are getting all your work done on campus, than why not enjoy your time at home. Gosh knows a regular school day is ultra draining.

I was cheating a lot of people this way. First of all I cheated myself because I wasn't learning on a daily basis. I cheated my kids because I wasn't learning on a daily basis. I cheated my wife because I wasn't improving myself or our position in life. Now I'm cheating my family in a whole new way.

I work all the time now. I'm learning on a daily basis (mostly how to use Web 2.0 tools to help my students). I'm helping my kids more than I have ever done, both with the tools I'm teaching them and my commitment to communication. That all sounds good, but I'm having trouble balancing time with my wife and newborn son. When I get home from school, I'm on the computer whenever the baby is sleeping or feeding, which is most of the time. I play with the littlebabyman whenever he is awake. Who do you think gets left out, my wife. AHHH, how do I balance this? I'm more satisfied than Ive ever been in my life as a collective whole, but there is this one LITTLE thing. Trying to find a balance, but its not easy to pull myself away from what I know is going to make me a better educator, more fulfilled, and hopefully help provide a better life for my family. My wife is so patient.

I may be able to get my own movie soon. Time will tell.