The term “stay-cation” is being used a lot lately, to describe a vacation close to home. This year for spring break, that was my plan. I planned to stay so close to home that I would literally be AT home. For a week! The benefits: I could save money and catch up on chores or read a novel (in theory). The problem: I don’t want to do chores any more than usual and I would really rather be at school. I just love the energy of having kids around and people working together towards a common goal. Anything less seems SO boring. Without the prospect of traveling abroad, this spring break “stay-cation” has the potential to drive me nuts.

Here’s my solution: In addition to private tutoring, I’m going to be babysitting. As much as I can! I know that’s usually a job for teenagers, but embracing the task of putting someone else’s kids to bed can be super rewarding. It’s an added bonus of the family has a dog for me to cuddle because I don’t have one. 

How much should I be paid as a 30-year-old babysitter? Somewhere along the line, I decided ten dollars per hour seemed appropriate. After all, the kids aren’t really learning anything. It’s possible that brain cells are actually being lost through hours of TV (and it seems silly for parents to pay a lot for that to happen). But seriously, I charge about $45/hr for tutoring, and that requires a lot of preparation. Comparatively babysitting is a piece of cake. I’m curious how much a professional teacher should charge to babysit though. Ideas?

So far, one day into spring break, I’ve had two jobs in the world of childcare. both sets of kids were super polite and fun to be around. They brushed their teeth without a hitch and went to bed on time. The second family has a very adorable dog (yay!) plus we watched Scooby-Doo. The parents were able to have a nice night out. Everyone wins!

The bottom line is this: I want to feel connected to people in a useful way. Staying at home doing laundry and watching Netflix just isn’t an option. Maybe someday it will appeal to me, but this week, I’ll be wherever the kids are. (Babysitting, here I come!)

I’m sitting in a huge room full of people. It’s teachers’ convention and I’m listening to a famous speaker who has a lot of wisdom to share. Our keynote speaker this morning is the author of the blog “1000 awesome things,” Neil Pasricha. His books based on the blog are bestsellers but I hadn’t really heard his story before. His enthusiasm is contagious. 

Neil’s blog began the way so many do– by googling the word “blog” and discovering WordPress. He was in a dark place and wanted to focus on the little positive things in life, the “awesome” things we often take for granted. This morning, as a keynote speaker in front of hundreds of teachers, Neil encouraged us to write down, on an index card, one awesome thing that happens at school. About 30 teachers had the chance to read their cards out loud. I loved them all. The positivity in the room was palpable.

The first awesome thing I thought about was this: “that moment when a student literally makes a sound like ‘Aha’ that shows they get it.” It happened to me the other day. It’s a magical sound, and teachers don’t always hear it. When I wrote this on an index card this morning, I smiled at the memory of the sound. Neil asked everyone in the room to find a stranger and exchange cards. Being a little lazy today, I simply turned to the stranger sitting beside me. He was a student teacher named Andrew and he has written down the exact same thing as I did! Wow. Cool. (Cheater?) turns out many people had the same idea, as I discovered while listening to other teachers read out their cards. So many awesome little things happen everyday and we desperately need to remind ourselves of them when life gets stressful. 

What awesome things happen at your job? Whether you’re a teacher or not, I would love to hear about the awesome things in your life.