I still had a trip to SMC and had a couple of honor band recordings make it to state. But unless I had a football game, a concert or a booster meeting, I turned off the lights at 6:30 and went home to be a husband and a dad. Whatever I had that wasn't finished at school went unfinished until the next day.
I have a great marriage, I have two great kids and I still have a rewarding career. My wife takes the kids to every single concert, every football game, every contest. They never wonder about what it is I do and they feel like they are a part of it.
You can do both and you can do both well, you just have to make yourself do both on purpose.
Do I miss the late nights pre-kids? No. And I still have a great rapport with my students. I didn't trade anything in my professional life to be a good dad.
Now, am I winning BOA Grand Nats and taking groups to MidWest and winning SMC? No. Who cares? If you have to leave XYZ high school to keep teaching and to win at home, then leave. And I'd hate to be the dad that had to look at a stranger that had my last name and realize I chose other peoples kids and a band over my own child.
I think people leave because they realize at some point that there is A LOT more to life than a trophy that will be in a dumpster in 10 years.
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