Professional Dad
This weekend I was part of a panel discussion at BYU regarding perr tutoring. The panel seemed to go well, but the whole experience reiterated an issue I expect I'll be juggling the rest of my life. Trying to have a professional life and a family at the same time can get complicated and frustrating.
Allow me to expound. The head of the writing center that sponsored our trip made allowances for my family to go up with us. We used school vehicles, and they seemed to be okay with it. The problem came up when we got there. Because my wife wasn't cleared to drive a school vehicle, she had to basically stay wherever I drove her. So, she ended up at the conference, wandering the halls with two children under the age of five. I missed winning one of the door prizes because I had gone out to tell my wife where I was going to be and what I was going to be doing. The people in charge wouldn't let one of the other tutors claim the prize for me. I ended up missing out on the secodn round of panel discussions because I chose to drive my family to the mall so that they had something to do and a place to eat.
I discovered that it's nigh impossible for someone who doesn't have kids to understand the difficulty that they add to logistics. I also discovered that my wife doesn't like having nothing to do, especially when she has two kids to do it with (granted that's not a major revelation, but it still became more abundantly clear this weekend). I also realized that, as generous as your supervisor may be in giving you the opportunity to bring your family, you really need to make sure that there is place for your family there.
I think the thing that got to me was that I wasn't able to really do anything to my satisfaction. I was trying to ensure that my family was taken care of while trying to juggle the logistics of taking care of the other panel members.
In any case, it brings up new issues that I need to address as I go through life.
Allow me to expound. The head of the writing center that sponsored our trip made allowances for my family to go up with us. We used school vehicles, and they seemed to be okay with it. The problem came up when we got there. Because my wife wasn't cleared to drive a school vehicle, she had to basically stay wherever I drove her. So, she ended up at the conference, wandering the halls with two children under the age of five. I missed winning one of the door prizes because I had gone out to tell my wife where I was going to be and what I was going to be doing. The people in charge wouldn't let one of the other tutors claim the prize for me. I ended up missing out on the secodn round of panel discussions because I chose to drive my family to the mall so that they had something to do and a place to eat.
I discovered that it's nigh impossible for someone who doesn't have kids to understand the difficulty that they add to logistics. I also discovered that my wife doesn't like having nothing to do, especially when she has two kids to do it with (granted that's not a major revelation, but it still became more abundantly clear this weekend). I also realized that, as generous as your supervisor may be in giving you the opportunity to bring your family, you really need to make sure that there is place for your family there.
I think the thing that got to me was that I wasn't able to really do anything to my satisfaction. I was trying to ensure that my family was taken care of while trying to juggle the logistics of taking care of the other panel members.
In any case, it brings up new issues that I need to address as I go through life.
posted by Andy | 9:15 AM
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