Back to School
August 27th, 2008 by Cali & Jody
For parents, this time of year is filled with mixed emotions. It’s the start of a new school year. There’s a dose of excitement, some anxiety, and a whole lot of questions.
How will I get to work by 8:00 when I need to wait at the bus stop until 7:45?
How can I get three kids ready and in the car by 7:30 so I can drop them off at three different schools and get to work by 8:30?
How will I live up to my promise to be a room parent when I probably won’t be able to convince my boss to get the time off?
It’s 3:30 and I haven’t heard from my child yet - did she make it home okay?
What will I do if my child gets sick as much this year as last year?
And if the stress of these questions isn’t enough, take a look at this statistic from the 2000 Fight Crime: Invest in Kids report:
“On school days, the prime time for violent juvenile crime is from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. The crimes that occur then are serious and violent, including murders, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults. These are also the hours when kids are most likely to:
- Become victims of violent crime
- Be in, or cause, a car crash (for 16-or 17-year-olds) - the leading cause of death for teens
- Be killed by household or other accidents
- Get hooked on cigarettes
- Experiment with other dangerous drugs.”
This post is not meant to cause your stress level to rise even more. This is a plea to managers. Read that statistic again. Then think of how many employees you have that are physically there, but worrying about where their kids are and what they’re doing. If they’re getting the job done, why make them sit in a cube until the clock says 5?
The plea - we’ve made it before and we’ll make it again: Focus on whether your employees are delivering results, not on how they choose to spend their time. Not on whether they come in at 9:30 or leave at 2:30. You’ll get better results (in some cases, more results) and you’ll have happier employees.
Well said…I have the good fortune to work from home when I can. The worry is constant..even in a small town…we always want to be with our kids:)
thanks,
Susan
I sent this article to a friend who runs an amazing albeit small non-profit serving kids in prison. I asked him if having a parent home during these critical hours would have made a difference for these kids. His response was a resounding YES! He even said it would have made a difference in his own life, as his mom was a single mom who really struggled working at a job that “didn’t care” about her life at home.
@Susan - thanks for sharing your experience. So true that no matter where we live geographically, the worry is there. And there are so many things that can be done to help alleviate it…
@Kris Thomas - your friend’s insight is great to hear. The stats are one thing, but to have someone on the front lines validating that yes, having parents home during these critical hours makes a difference is strong stuff. This statistic has always been one that stuck with us - probably because it involves such intense situations for kids and, in many cases, preventable accidents.