Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Back to School, Back to School Parent Obligations

Imagine organizing the families of all these kids for a travel choir  performance 
Nothing says end of summer faster than the onslaught of emails from class parents, PTA presidents and teachers

Coaches get into the act, too, whether your child plays a varsity or club sport.  I think I have already gotten 3 dozen emails and texts in the last day about an upcoming Ultimate tournament - and school doesn’t even start for 8 days!

I am suggesting that the entire team get on board with VolunteerSpot, a wonderful fee online tool that helps you organize car pools, snack duty and bake sales, without the endless clogged inbox. [Disclosure: I was compensated for this post].

VolunteerSpot is useful for all kinds of after school activities -anything where you need to coordinate a large group of people.  My sister just organized a dinner for 270 (!) parents and family members of her son’s marching band, and this would have been invaluable help.

I’m not sure what it says about me that when she said they ran out of Rita’s at the dinner, I was picturing a bunch of parents with empty margarita glasses (‘rita’s) - she meant they had so many people not bring promised desserts that they ran out of Rita’s water ice.

But parents not getting Italian ices (all the kids got) could be a blessing in disguise; VolunteerSpot can avert potential disasters, like the one we had at a travel tournament, when a parent had to leave with his car and five girls were stranded without rides.

We also had a situation where there were so many emails in a chain that when our hotel was switched, some parents didn’t get notified, and were shut out of rooms. The sign up sheets are accessible to everyone and the info is clear and easy to read - no danger in vital info getting lost.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I see an empty margarita glass that needs attention.


Note: check out VolunteerSpot’s Back to School promotion, where you can win money or swag, for you or your kid’s after school activities, and money for the school.

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