Oh, Lordy! The emails!

2019

It’s Friday. It’s the day my email account EXPLODES with messages.

I try. I REALLY, really try to read them all, but goodness, there are so many of them! You see, I have 7 kids right now in 5 different schools. In this age of technology, communication is all about emailing. It’s not just 5 emails, either, from 5 schools. This evening, I opened my computer to find TWENTY-SEVEN emails from schools and teachers. Have I mentioned that I have seven children in my home? When am I supposed to read 27 emails?

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This week, there is a parent bulletin email from each school… The gist of these emails (one from the preschool, one each from 2 elementary schools, one from the middle school, and one from the high school) is to keep parents updated on school events, parent meetings, club updates, closure days. That’s 5 emails to read.

The next set was a weekly email from 3 of the principals to share the things that clubs, student activities, classes, and staff are working on within the school community. Counting? We are up to 8 emails.

Then there are the weekly emails that the classroom teachers send out about work that is happening with their students. One from the preschool teacher, one from the 1st grade teacher, and one from the 5th grade teacher. AND… since the 7th grader, 8th grader, and high schooler each have multiple periods during the day, many of their teachers (6 periods/day for each of them) send classroom notes about the language arts, the math, the technology class, the psychology class, etc. They share about what students are currently working on, assignments that are due, opportunities for family to help. Most of the teachers send their updates on Friday afternoon. Today, there were emails from 16 different teachers!!!!! Still counting? That is 24 emails!!!!!

But wait!!!!! There was also an email from the school district about the upcoming levy on the ballot. There was an email from the school district superintendent about the work she sees happening in the district and the issues she and school board are working on. And last, but not least, an email from the PTSA Special Education committee about their upcoming meeting to which all families are welcome.

Voila! Twenty-seven school related emails on a Friday afternoon. Who could ask for anything more? Actually…. while I am groaning, I am also very thankful. I am grateful that my children’s educators take their time to reach out and keep us parents updated. I am grateful for technology that allows this to happen in such a timely way. And I LOVE that classroom and homework assignments are put into writing so I know how to keep the kids on task if needed.

I used to try to skim the emails, but kept missing details…. like field trip dates, concert performance dates, project assignments, etc. I quickly learned that not paying full attention to the messages really messed up all my efforts to keep my little duckies in a row. And more importantly, I did not see the notes that gave me insight into my children’s days and I lost good fodder for conversations with the kids about their lives.

So now, it’s Friday evening…. family night with a movie and popcorn. Every once in a while, I consider what fun it would be to have a real date on a Friday night again. But, besides keeping busy with all my kids, who has time for dating when I have 27 emails to read?

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