Nothing is Everything

It is my pleasure to volunteer at the school every Wed. & Fri. On Wednesdays I help Ms. Ring, Hannah's Kindergarten teacher and on Fridays I help Ms. Kovach, Mackenzie's fifth grade teacher. I file papers, do all of the kids folders, clean as much as I can and attend to the kids if needed. Whatever they need me to do, I do.

On top of that I get to see what my children are doing and observe everything that goes on.

The teachers don't have eyes in the back of their heads so when she's busy with something or someone and kids are goofing off, I look at them and let them know to behave.

Yesterday they had a little festival and she was trying to get all of the kids their drinks and snacks. I helped pour the drinks and pass out plates when she looked at me and said this was killing her back and she needed a break. I told her to sit down, relax and I would do it. She couldn't. No matter how bad she wanted to she had to take care of her class.

I don't think that some people realize how stressful and hard it is to be a teacher taking care of 20-25 kids. I think there are 22 students in her class and without an aide can be crazy. Before I started going in every week, I assumed they had some kind of help. An aide or someone. They don't. We're from a small town in NY and every school there had teachers aides. 

When I stand there and put papers in the folders and put them in their cubbies, I think of it as nothing. I can stand there and do multiple tasks for her and think,

"No Problemo! Simple enough." 

Both teachers always thank me, tell me how much time I've lifted off their hands and remind me to come next week. To her it's everything. They need help. Even if it seems like nothing to us, it's everything and more to them. They deserve more than what they are commended for. They're under paid, running around taking care of our kids, teaching them things we wouldn't teach at home and breaking their backs bending down countless times to unbutton their pants so they don't piss their pants.