Volunteer At School

Oct 9th, 2008 | By chrismarshall | Category: Advice

I love being a Dad. It’s given me so many opportunities that I would never of had if I stayed a bachelor. I’ll be touching on many of those hats here at Dad-o-Matic in the upcoming weeks and months but for now let’s start of with something that every single dad can do and that is being a volunteer at your kids school. This doesn’t mean every week at 2:30pm like I do. But it can be just once a year at the school picnic or helping to make productions sets for the school play or being a “room dad” for an afternoon project when the teacher needs an extra pair of hands. It’s a wonderful feeling for me and it can be for you, too.

Now then, I volunteer every Thursday from 2:30-3:30 (including a quick stop at Starbucks beforehand). What I chose to do was to help out in Erin’s first grade computer lab class (all of them Macs). Each week they march in single file to the library, sit down in their seats and then the teacher gives them basic instructions on what ever simple project they have for that day. It can be using a Paint program or cutting and pasting or even keyboarding. I’m mostly there to keep an eye on the kids and answer questions like, “What does this key do”? or “Where can I find this”?

Like I said it’s real rewarding and I get to watch Erin interact with other students and see her progress in the school setting, not to mention the fact that I get to be a “Geek Dad”, which I savor.

Do you volunteer at your kids’ school? If so what do you do?

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  • Great Post!

    If I could make another suggestion. Be a chaperon on a field trip. I had a lot of fun and learned quite a bit. Plus your children will love showing you off.
  • Great reminder! Seeing what really goes on at your kid's school is very rewarding, and your kid's will love to see you around. If you can't volunteer on a regular basis, it is great to at least participate at things like "Career Day." I used to give a fun presentation to my kid's grade school classes and always got a kick out of kids coming up to me in the supermarket and other places in the neighborhood saying "Hey, you're (Zach, Ethan, Olivia)'s Dad! I saw you on career day!" Fun stuff, and your kids will remember it forever!
  • I read to my daughter's second grade class on Fridays. It's a blast!
  • It's great that you volunteer at your daughter's school computer lab on a regular basis! I'm not able to make a similar commitment, but have been contributing to "teacher appreciation days" by sending home baked goodies.
  • Erin is one lucky kid, and you're fortunate to be her dad and to get to do this cool stuff! Great idea to volunteer this way. My son, Matt, is 12 now, and I've volunteered at school (in math, until I rose to the level of my incompetence) and in English (much more appropriate for a journalist-mom!). Fun stuff.

    Isn't it great to see your kid in the school environment, with her teacher and friends? You really get to see a different side of her compared with what you see at home.

    Thanks for encouraging parents to do this type of volunteering. It's so valuable.
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