https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Thu, 23 Apr 2026 08:48:41 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/moms-at-school-volunteering-pta-pto#post-2820268 Fri, 04 May 2018 09:19:13 +0000 dolphin 2820268@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@irene: We use this volunteer management website where you can just track your hours online. You can choose which services you've volunteered for and you just log in your hours. I guess technically you can cheat and say I did x hours when you didn't and there is no way they can really KNOW, so it's more of a honor system. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/moms-at-school-volunteering-pta-pto#post-2820209 Fri, 04 May 2018 02:45:18 +0000 ElbieKay 2820209@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I went to one PTO meeting. Most of the volunteer opportunities were exactly the type of thing I have no time / energy / interest for. I work full time and get home at 7pm during the week. I barely feel caught up on my life after trying to catch up on the weekends. Any sparse amount of leftover time is mostly spent with my son. I do not want to add responsibilities like collecting and sorting box tops to my plate. If I am going to volunteer in school it would be much more meaningful to me to spend time in my son's classroom.</p> <p>I know several moms in our class socially, and we often see people we know from school when we are at the playground on the weekends. Moms Night Out activities are difficult for me to prioritize because my schedule is already maxed out. Honestly if I am going to take a night off to myself, I would rather catch up with an old friend than try to make new acquaintances.</p> <p>As long as I am a working mom, I will be careful to choose a school where I am not the only working mom. I need that stuff to be truly optional and not have my lack of participation reflect poorly on my child.</p> <p>This sentiment is compounded by the fact that I am pregnant right now! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/moms-at-school-volunteering-pta-pto#post-2820196 Thu, 03 May 2018 21:24:27 +0000 mrsbubbletea 2820196@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@irene: I actually don’t know, I just assumed they would count the money I spent at the same price the hourly rate is if you don’t volunteer. The thing is, it’s really more on the honor system at our school. We are assigned to committees, and the school newsletters frequently remind us to report our hours to the commitee chairs. But last year I was doing some volunteering at the end and panicking a little bit, and the other parents who had been through the school with multiple kids all said they only got charged one year. Multiple emails said hours will be tallied up soon and bills sent but thankfully it wasn’t the case! I hope not this year because I won’t have it done... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/moms-at-school-volunteering-pta-pto#post-2820183 Thu, 03 May 2018 19:37:04 +0000 irene 2820183@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gingerbebe: @mrsbubbletea: I can not help but to think of it sounding like community service - ie if you got arrested of a certain crime you have to serve x hours of community service or pay a fine lol. I still don't understand how do they track your hours though, do they give you an ankle ring? hehehe totally kidding :silly: You guys are amazing. This year I think I volunteered for 1.5-2 hours total (we do donate $$$ though). </p> <p>@mrsbubbletea: So if you buy expensive posters it will meet the volunteering quota faster? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/moms-at-school-volunteering-pta-pto#post-2820163 Thu, 03 May 2018 17:13:12 +0000 mrsbubbletea 2820163@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@irene: hopefully they round up! I need to do 20 hours of volunteering at my son’s school or pay and I have done like... 3 hours. And that’s definitely rounding up! The first thing I did was buy like 10 posters for an event and I got them at the dollar store... afterwards I was thinking I should have bought them somewhere expensive! Lol </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/moms-at-school-volunteering-pta-pto#post-2820157 Thu, 03 May 2018 16:32:26 +0000 gingerbebe 2820157@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@irene: The school we're going to send our kids to have the same thing. They want parents to volunteer like 20 hours a year, or pay like $15 per hour or something like that (or a combination thereof). We are totally fine with paying, since DH and I both work, but we also have flexible schedules so we can make it to some stuff if we want to. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/moms-at-school-volunteering-pta-pto#post-2820115 Thu, 03 May 2018 13:40:25 +0000 irene 2820115@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@dolphin: Wow! This makes me laugh out loud. What a straight forward no BS school, but in a strange way I like it! I like how if I pay up I don't feel I owe them anything. We are at a private school so people donate AND some moms are always there. </p> <p>How do they clock in and keep track of the hours though, say you are the mystery reader, and you clock in what, 20 mins? And if you are a class mom and every email you draft that's 5 mins? haha </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/moms-at-school-volunteering-pta-pto#post-2820065 Thu, 03 May 2018 11:35:45 +0000 dolphin 2820065@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our school requires every family to put in 20 hours of volunteer hours otherwise you'd get charged a fee at the end of the school year. I forget how much but maybe $400. At first 20 hours sounded like a lot to us but we've been going over every year (this is DD's second year). We're lucky we have a flexible work schedule so we're able to volunteer for field trips and classroom parties. We've met and gotten close to a lot of other parents this way. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/moms-at-school-volunteering-pta-pto#post-2820021 Thu, 03 May 2018 08:35:12 +0000 irene 2820021@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: I need to suggest it to our school! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/moms-at-school-volunteering-pta-pto#post-2820017 Thu, 03 May 2018 08:22:29 +0000 looch 2820017@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@irene: Our dance is a sweetheart dance, and it is open to a child and any special person they would like to bring. It makes it much more inclusive that way. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/moms-at-school-volunteering-pta-pto#post-2819983 Wed, 02 May 2018 21:00:07 +0000 irene 2819983@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Lovely to hear about how everyone's schools are!</p> <p>@Rocker2014: @bhbee: daycare and preschool is a different ball game-- we had no volunteering and maybe 3 family activities for the whole year at daycare. For some reason, once we get into school it feels like at least one parent doesn't work, or else I can't explain how can some people volunteer for so many things. I wish I knew to ask that question (how much parent involvement should we expect) when we were looking for a PK-8 school...!</p> <p>@lamariniere: I just looked and you are in Thailand, is that right? I can imagine the schools in the middle of the city would be difficult to get to!</p> <p>@mediagirl: That is nice. I would love to see a class dad! </p> <p>@meganmp: Did you organize the playdates yourself, or is it a school thing?</p> <p>@looch: Haha! I've been wondering about "dads night out"! I always thought it was a little sexist why there is only mom's night but not dad's night. It feels like WE have to do extra work (even though it is fun, but you still have to make time for it). I guess that's the reason. I feel like I see the moms more than I had date nights with DH. </p> <p>For us we had father and daughter dance every year, which I wish it were "father and child" because DS started whining that he's a daughter so he could go to the dance. </p> <p>@Mama Bird: Honestly, my brain started slacking off (workwise) since starting at a "real" school (pk-8 for us) because it seems that it is more a norm for the moms to NOT work! I feel almost like an outcast because I have some work. This year is better because I believe 35-40% of my class the mom works. I also only volunteer the minimum amount... some moms are there all the time at every event.</p> <p>@tlynne: That sounds like an ideal school to me! I wish there were more working moms at mine. And as fun as the mom outings are, as an introvert, I wouldn't mind if they cut it down ;-) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/moms-at-school-volunteering-pta-pto#post-2819900 Wed, 02 May 2018 13:57:34 +0000 Rocker2014 2819900@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My LO's preschool/daycare is definitely a 1, but that's one of the reasons we chose it. DH and I both work full time and my job is particularly demanding, plus we have a lot of social and family commitments. The first daycare I toured had lots of events during the day, with expectations that parents volunteer/attend regularly. There was no way we could manage all that with our schedules, and I hated the idea of LO having to attend these kind of events without us present. For all the other daycares I toured I asked specifically about expectations for these events and my two finalists both said that they knew parents used their daycare's services because they were working so they almost never had parent events or volunteer expectations. The center we chose has lived up to this - they do one graduation event at the end of the year that starts at 4:30pm! We've been very happy with this, and I know many of the other parents are too. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/moms-at-school-volunteering-pta-pto#post-2819862 Wed, 02 May 2018 12:09:16 +0000 cascademom 2819862@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We're at about a 4. Lots of family nights, room parent opportunities. I'm room parent coordinator this year, so I've gotten to know a lot of the moms. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/moms-at-school-volunteering-pta-pto#post-2819861 Wed, 02 May 2018 12:07:10 +0000 tlynne 2819861@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>There are volunteer opportunities, but most of them are for individual parents...and most parents in my older son's class seem to work, like I do. I think it is more of a culture thing down here...parent involvement is pretty low all through school. We know a ton of other parents through other activities...but not from school. And this is even though my husband actually TEACHES at the school my son goes to. There are some PTO nights, and a yearly art gallery auction ...along with an occasional fundraiser night...but not much else. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/moms-at-school-volunteering-pta-pto#post-2819859 Wed, 02 May 2018 11:46:03 +0000 Mama Bird 2819859@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It's pretty good I guess? But only for moms who do not work or are self-employed. All the events and PTA meetings are during work hours. I'm lucky to have a very flex time-friendly job, and even I don't have enough time off to get involved because there are also all these holidays, early dismissal days, and of course summer. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/moms-at-school-volunteering-pta-pto#post-2819757 Wed, 02 May 2018 08:36:10 +0000 looch 2819757@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We schedule one Mom's night out event per school year. We tried Dad's Night out and it was poorly attended, so we are instead trying a playdate at a park with Dads instead.</p> <p>Volunteering is separate, it's to run the events. If you make friends, that's a bonus! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/moms-at-school-volunteering-pta-pto#post-2819722 Wed, 02 May 2018 05:44:13 +0000 mediagirl 2819722@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My school welcomes moms AND dads to volunteer whenever they like. Our room parent is a dad and my husband spends a lot of time at the school for various things. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/moms-at-school-volunteering-pta-pto#post-2819715 Tue, 01 May 2018 22:20:49 +0000 meganmp 2819715@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We just had a new parent social (beer and wine included!). There are playmates over the summer and regular potlucks and such. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/moms-at-school-volunteering-pta-pto#post-2819714 Tue, 01 May 2018 22:20:06 +0000 lamariniere 2819714@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our school is a 1.5. But, we have a situation that is probably different from most people. Our school is way out of the city center, so my kids go by bus every day. It's a HUGE pain to get to, like an hour+ in a taxi when traffic is bad, which is most days, so they don't do many mom and/or family oriented activities since they know it is a burden for most families to go. That said, there are occasional school activities and parents are encouraged to attend or volunteer, and I've gone when I can. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/moms-at-school-volunteering-pta-pto#post-2819710 Tue, 01 May 2018 21:18:36 +0000 bhbee 2819710@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our preschool is about a 2. There are some volunteer opportunities, but a lot of it is not as a group where you can really meet people. Not a lot of other social stuff, a few family events. The best way I have met people is trying to set up play dates for the class myself (mixed results, but did meet some people) and also hanging out in the time between when younger and older kids start - since it’s half hour apart the little ones often play in the gym after older get dropped off. But no adults only stuff ever! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/moms-at-school-volunteering-pta-pto#post-2819706 Tue, 01 May 2018 20:26:04 +0000 irene 2819706@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>For us I'd say 4. we have a ton of class volunteering opportunities, and school event volunteering opportunities. I volunteer at the class things but not so much for the school events. Other than that, each class the class moms will organize mom night outs, family events, mother and son / father and daughter events. We are always having mom get togethers but I have never heard from my friends from other schools have so much get-togethers. It is fun but just curious what other schools are like. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/moms-at-school-volunteering-pta-pto#post-2819704 Tue, 01 May 2018 20:17:52 +0000 irene 2819704@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Rating from 1-5 (non-existent to a lot), how much effort does your school put in terms of bringing the moms together? Things such as:</p> <p>- volunteering opportunities<br /> - organized family events<br /> - moms night out</p> <p>Did you think it is the right amount, or do you think it is way too much ? </p>