[speaker001:] okay uh let me see I've got two children one is uh both preschoolers one is two and one is um four
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] so and um this is my first year off and I've always worked uh the time that they were little and so I decided to hold off on my job for a while and stay home with them and spend some more time with them which I hadn't been doing
[speaker002:] well I think that's wonderful my children are in college
[speaker001:] so oh
[speaker002:] but I teach school and I teach uh middle school age children
[speaker001:] oh okay
[speaker002:] and so I see a lot of uh variation in what happens when kids are at home
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] I have taught school ever since my children were little but the advantage of teaching school is your hours are closer to your children's and your holidays are too so teaching I think is a
[speaker001:] uh-huh yeah
[speaker002:] a good career to have and still be able to spend a lot of quality time with kids
[speaker001:] um-hum yeah well that's what I was doing before I was teaching for a Richardson School District and um it just seemed like it took a lot of my time with them being so little and it was really hard
[speaker002:] uh-huh right well with them being as young it was much much harder when mine were young
[speaker001:] yeah yeah
[speaker002:] and uh I really didn't have that much of a choice because my husband was trying to finish his uh college work
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] and his Master's degree and so forth and so it was a matter of somebody had to have a full-time job
[speaker001:] yeah that's right that's right and that's what was kind of what what where we were when you know we I really didn't have to work but I felt like I really wanted to work
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and I felt I awful I felt like boy I was sure was missing a lot and they were growing so fast and you know it's like do I really need to work you know and I and it that choice was there I really didn't have to and
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] you know so I did have that advantage there but it's different staying at home too you know it's an adjustment to make also
[speaker002:] yes it certainly is we well I think that um we need to spend more family time together with with children today uh we made a point to spend a lot of quality time and the activities that we were involved in were the activities the kids were
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] involved in you know like uh through scouting or you know anything like that we participated and uh we always made a point to have breakfast together and supper together now
[speaker001:] yeah wow that's great
[speaker002:] when yeah when uh the kids were in high school it was harder to always have supper together but we did always have breakfast together
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] so we we had supper together as much as possible but when it wasn't feasible you know we kind of kept a master calendar
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and when it wasn't feasible well that was understandable but uh we've always tried to spend time to talk and uh
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] have some time together time and we sat around the table we didn't sit in front of a TV or
[speaker001:] ah that's great because that's
[speaker002:] that kind of thing so I think that's been important because we do have a close family and even though the kids are basically uh grown uh
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] they still like to sit down at the table and us all eat together when they're here and uh have spoken before of they want that kind of situation
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] you know situation for them when you know and their children when they marry and have children
[speaker001:] yeah kind of grows on and
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] they do what they see and you know
[speaker002:] that's right they model and the with the dysfunctional families today I'm sure you with a as a schoolteacher also you see what happens to these kids
[speaker001:] um-hum yeah
[speaker002:] when these families never communicate or they're dysfunctional as far as the between uh oh second families or uh one parent families or all those kinds of problems that they have and then you see them magnified magnified in the children
[speaker001:] uh-huh yeah yeah yeah plus you teach middle school so I'm sure that
[speaker002:] oh boy yes
[speaker001:] you are really you really boy oh boy I taught early childhood so I had the little ones
[speaker002:] um-hum yes
[speaker001:] and um you know I saw it there too and you you know you just oh it's it kind of an eye-opener you know so
[speaker002:] it is it is and most I think most teachers realize the value of quality time with children and I think we make a point to do that
[speaker001:] um-hum yeah I think you're right
[speaker002:] because we see we see all the time the outcome of not doing that and I think if we weren't so interested in in children in childfaring we wouldn't be teaching anyway
[speaker001:] yeah right right
[speaker002:] so uh I wish we could reach more of the rest of the world
[speaker001:] okay yeah yeah
[speaker002:] because I think uh the major problems in education are not what's happening in the schools it's what's happening in the families and uh they expect us to
[speaker001:] I agree yeah
[speaker002:] you know have create miracles at school and fix all the problems and take over the roles of the parents as well as that of the teachers and you get to a point where it's completely impossible
[speaker001:] uh yeah yeah I agree I I know exactly what you're saying
[speaker002:] and you just get more and more frustrated and yet you feel for the the kids you do the best you can but