#teacher5aday pledge

I had a little wobble this Christmas holiday.  I worried that my juggling teaching and being a mum was spectacularly failing.  I worried that I was rubbish at both things.  So I thought, ok I can quit (teaching, not the mum thing!).  Trouble is, part of the reason I became a teacher is because I am by nature not good at being a stay at home mum.  I do not think my children (or my husband!) would thank me for quitting.  Also, quitting?  I am too stubborn . . .

The alternative then is to bite the bullet and get good at juggling both.  For goodness sake, I managed to complete a masters degree in Physics while pregnant and constantly needing the loo, this is nowhere near as difficult as that surely!  I also once managed to breast feed, drink a cup of tea, and sign for a package from the postman all at the same time.  These are the actions of a superwoman no?

The honest truth is that I get this wobble relatively regularly, and then I get myself out of it with the aforementioned reasoning.  The problem is, I never actually change anything, so the wobble returns.

So my #teacher5aday pledge serves this purpose, to eliminate the wobble.  Committing to this blog (something I have never been able to do) is my change number 1.  My hope for it is that reading back over past successes (and failures), things I have done, fun times with the family, will nip that wobble in the bud.

My #teacher5aday pledge is thus:

#connect
Wednesday afternoons is a lovely time for me, as after school me and my girlies visit my Granny (who almost always has yummy stuff ready and waiting!).  We chat about the week, things that have happened things that are planned etc.  I realised though, that because I see my mum almost everyday because my girlies go to her house before and after school, I never actually spend any quality time with her.  This is a situation I need to do something about.

As far as work is concerned, I am going to take a deep breath and try to step out of the shadows and join in with the conversations on twitter.  I already get quite a lot out of just reading, so I am sure actually participating will be even better.

#notice
Evenings can be rushed in my house.  By the time we get home and have had dinner, I am exhausted and if I am being honest just want to be on my own.  After the girlies have gone to bed (my husband has always done bedtime, I am very lucky) every day I feel guilty because either I realise I haven't actually had a conversation with them, or listened to them read or practice spellings.  Not all days are like this, but I am aiming for NO days to be like this.  My girlies are growing up so fast, I do not want that guilt to become permanent.
A few years ago I bought 'The Happiness Project  One Sentence Journal for Mothers'.  The book itself by Gretchen Rubin is worth a read.  I am determined to fill it in this year, all you have to do is write one sentence a day about something that has made you happy.

#learn
I keep seeing courses on OpenLearn that I would like to try.  I think I will set myself a target of one this year as trust me there is so much about teaching I still have to learn!

#exercise
Yesterday I bought some jeggings, size 12.  When I got home, I realised that they had been put on the wrong hanger and were in fact a size 14.  I tried them on anyway and they fit.  After feeling sorry for myself and wanting cake to feel better, I looked up the swim timetable for my local leisure centre.  I work part time, three days a week, so on my days off I am going swimming.  There, I wrote it down so it must be true.

#volunteer
I try to help out on school trips at my girl's primary school when I can, and I shall keep on doing this.  I do feel I could do more, they are always asking for helpers so I shall try to say yes more often.

That will do I think.  I am also starting a bullet journal this year, but I shall save that for another day,

Happy New Year!

p.s. Reading this back I realised that it is quite . . . honest.  I don't quite know how else to write so, tough I guess.