You know, I own my own business and have always put my family first in that so I guess I'm a little used to doing it now that I'm so involved up at school.

I nominated myself for the board FOR my children, it's a great way to make sure you are involved in their education.

This year, while I"m president, I've tried to have things scheduled "scattered". I revised the budget layout so that we could see "what" was being done each month. September and October had absolutely nothing going on while november and december had tons of events crammed in (and many didn't have anything to do with the holidays). Same for March, nothing going on, while April and May were crammed.

My theory is that if we burn out volunteers and parents with everything crammed into an already busy "personal" schedule, they won't want to come back. So we've spread our events out evenly this coming year and we'll see what a difference it will make.

For a long time, my husband was a self proclaimed PTA hater. It wasn't because of it's politics or the issues of dues. It was because it took my time. But now, in my fourth year as a member and second year as Council President, it's easier to juggle things and not take too much time away from my family. (It doesn't hurt that I'm an insomniac and that I am really big on e-communication!) In fact, for the last two months, things have been flowing very smoothly. I've been able to keep the house cleaner (not clean just cleaner [img]smile.gif[/img] ) do my regular, gives me a paycheck, job, feed them a dinner that I didn't pick up in a drive thru and even just hang out with them! But it wasn't easy getting to this point and last year being my first year on the council, I was very much neglectful of my family. (My son even came out one morning stating very adult like, "I have no clean socks, you should be ashamed of yourself" and stomped back into his room.) But for the most part, my son did enjoy being able to see the inside of the teacher's lounge and being a bigger part of the activities. He definitely aired a bit of the "I'm important because my mommy's the President" attitude and aside from the socks, seemed pretty okay with it all.
I've involved my family more in things, my husband was even elected my VP this year, and they attended and participated in the convention. Coupled with the fact that I'm far more comfortable with things, my family isn't missing out on my attention anymore.
Funny thing, I watched an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond tonight and it was about his wife running for President of their school group and he voted against her, because he wanted her home.
Even the networks have picked up on the work we put in and the time that it takes, sometimes away from our families but if you do it right, delegate, plan accordingly and be mindful of your family, it is possible to have it all.

I felt I was neglecting my family at times. When I told my boys that I was not going to be PTO pres anymore I expected a little excitement, NOT, they were mad! So the following year everything that didn't go the way they wanted it was all my fault because I wasn't "the PTO president anymore". Right down to the district changing times for tardies etc, the SBDM putting in a clear/mesh back pack rule, and the NCLB Act. LOL!

It's fun to get the whole family involved. My kids and husband really don't seem to mind it. For the past 8 years my husband has been playing Santa at our Pizza with Santa. He's been very lucky and said he'll continue until a kid pee's on him!

As for my kids, my oldest has been earning her confirmation hours by helping out with our various functions and fundraisers.Since our school has 1-3 family events per month, she has more than enough hours.

My other 2 get to play elves and bunnies at other funtions.They help set up the book fairs& Holiday fun shop. And they help set up and clean up at funtions. Which really amazes me since I can get them to clean their rooms!

At our school there are others like me, we all seem to get the kids involved or we wouldn't be able to do it.

I would have to say that yes there are quite a few times that the pto has become before my family. I had a hard time admitting it but this year i agreed.Is my family mad at me?No, instead my husband who has many talents has done balloon animals at functions, help set up take down, do errands, etc. My kids (10 and 5) like that they get to be a part of the action. I find that most of the volunteers feel that at times their kids come second, but truth is without volunteers no ones children would have the events. I also try to encourage that they bring their kids for set up, before our sockhop we got pizza for all of them. Afterwards they get to take home decorations, leftovers , etc. My oldest son thought that I was going to give up pto last fall and was thrilled when I didnt! I have also noticed that our key volunteers are now coming with spouses(double help). There are ways around it and you have to think about the families that depend on what we do....our group makes fun!!!

NM - I don't understand why you would need to have two organizations? Maybe I misunderstand. Are you simply changing the name, or creating a second group? If it's just a name change to better identify what your group is all about, then why wouldn't the officers stay put? If it's a second group, then there must be more to it.

As far as bi-monthly meetings go...as long as your members know what's going on (with email, website, newsletter, display case, etc), and IF your meetings are strictly business updates, then why not try it? Think about what the purpose of a meeting really is and then consider other ways to provide the same benefit during the OFF months.