Weekends

When I was working, weekends were a welcome respite from the stresses of what seemed at times to be an impossible balancing act. Being a Headteacher from  the late 70's to the early 90's seemed at times like being a hamster on a wheel or a juggler keeping plates spinning in the air. By the time I left I was completely burnt out, as were so many of my colleagues. Things don't seem to have improved for teachers now, more than 25 years later.

The two days of a weekend were the time to catch up with everything that needed to be done as a wife & mother. There was no time or energy left during the week to do anything other than simply just keep the show on the road.

Retrospectively I have often wondered whether that commitment to what is essentially just a job, which required that pace of life, was worth the price. I don't think it was, but it was expected. By everyone - parents, teachers, Governors, Politicians, the public & the media. But most of all by all of us working at the chalk face of teaching. With very few exceptions we knew, that each child needed the best education possible throughout their educational life.

That model of work as a vocation doesn't just apply to teaching. Today the "work life balance" simply doesn't exist for huge numbers of people in a wide variety of jobs. Things have got worse, job security has disappeared in a puff of smoke. Wages have stagnated for years. There are food banks because even those in work cannot afford to feed their families. The pressures on people to do whatever it takes to keep a job must be immense. The pressures on single parent families must be even worse.

Weekends should be a time for relaxation, for fun, for doing things together with the people you love. All too often that isn't possible. Batteries don't get recharged. People are so busy doing the things they have to do they are almost as driven as they are when they are at work.

Human beings were not made to operate at full throttle all the time. It isn't healthy. Look at so called less "civilised" societies. They are much more communal. They are less individualistic & certainly are less materialistic. In my travels in Africa, the Middle East, Asia & South America I would say they have a capacity for simple happiness that we have sadly lost.

Bring back relaxed weekends & a better work life balance I say. Ironically now I'm retired my weeks seem just as busy, but in totally different ways. Weekends do seem to be an oasis of calm, with nothing much happening.