I been thinking about my last post with me complaining that I am getting tired of volunteering for MELD. I have some reasons that I refuse to blog about here. Maybe, I will tackle that in my private blog.
I admit that I feel strained for time and that is part of my deal. It's an hour and half away from my night and with the drive it's close to being 2 and half hours away from my night. It takes me away from my family and we have to rearrange dinner. If Stephen is doing well and we think he can manage being up later, I bring him with me. I love that he gets exposure to volunteering and also the expose to little kids of a different race. The majority of what I see on Monday night has been black. As a white person and a white Mom, I want my kids not to think negative towards blacks or any other race. Today, we were at a park and we are the only while people. My son is playing on his own and then he starts to play with the kids pushing them on the tire swing. My son doesn't have the best social skills and this was huge.
I told him how I thought it was great that he started playing with the kids and he said that he got tired of watching them play and was just gonna play.

One of my biggest reasons for feeling burned out is that they can't keep volunteers and it's so hard keeping an eye on 6 to 7 children. About 4 to 5 depending on which child shows or doesn't show are still in diapers. About 2 or 3 still drink most of their meals from a bottle. There is always the one or two children who cry for Mommy. If I am lucky they won't cry for the hour and half. It also seems that at least one child comes in there sick.

The driver sticks around but he isn't really helping much. He will hold a baby if I hand him or her to him. Also, he will tell the older child to quit climbing on the house and he is there when I change the diapers of the children. It's kind of a rule of mine to always change each child's diaper during the hour and half.

I loved it when the girls from high school came to volunteer because they had to do it for a project. They were able to do puzzles, read books and pretend play with the older children and assist with some of the other children.

I think the fact that I am around children so much more than I used to has made it a little less fun. I was in a big need for a baby fix when I started about a year ago. I babysit for a church on Sunday's and my husband and I babysit for our grand daughter while her parents work. I know that kind of sound selfish to admit that I am getting my baby fixes and it's not such a strong desire for me anymore. I believe that all this is probably just bitching because I still believe in MELD and all the good that they are doing.

On a good note, next month they are hosting a dinner for volunteers. I went last year and enjoyed it but if I remember right we still had to babysit and didn't get to hear all the success stories.