A single mom, 2 daughters, multiple school and sports activities – that was me at what seemed like a minute ago. Flash forward a couple of decades to me and my husband, 2 married daughters, 2 stepdaughters, 1 “adopted” son, and 6 grandchildren, and this Baby Boomer is back in the driver’s seat again as a Grandma taxi.
And now I’m in the midst of what I used to call “Volunteer Hell.” The difference is now I’m happy to drive all over town for my grandkids. Time has certainly changed for this Grandma taxi. WIth new technology comes new tools, such as VolunteerSpot, to help.
Grandma Taxi to the Rescue
Since I’m not retired yet, I still need to coordinate time between travel, grandkids and working (notice the job came last!). One of our four daughters lives less than 5 miles away. Sshe and her husband don’t work the regular 9-5, with evening and even graveyard hours mixed in. She does have the advantage of both sets of grandparents living nearby, but we all do work. Again, there we are trying to coordinate “volunteer” schedules. Between work, school and family travel including multigenerational family vacations together, it can be mind-numbing.
Like many Traveling Moms and freelance writers, my mobile office is a big part of how I’m able to function on the road. From my SmartPhone to my Laptop, the balance is difficult to achieve. When I raised my own daughters, mobile offices were only just the new wave. Today, mobile offices are an annoying necessity.
But what about organizing the multigenerational families, and our work schedules? And pickups of grandkids between those families, and family travel? Enter in Volunteer Spot, who approached me to (disclosure) write this post on their behalf. I didn’t need to be prompted to sign up and take advantage of this great site.
VolunteerSpot: Super Grandma Taxi
Volunteer Spot lets me round up volunteers – family members or other helpers, assign jobs and get things done. All these and more makes me look like I’m the Super Grandma (which, of course, I am). It’s free – and it’s easy. I can create different activities or large events, customize a group page, and share (such as with the family). Signup sheets can be created and passed around to the group, or those interested can click on the link and sign up from their smart phone.
After reviewing the VolunteerSpot, I think this will be a cool travel tool for our family vacations. Sure we get together for the “big family travel meeting.” But once our decided on our destination, this will be great to assign different tasks to our group.
For example, when we recently took the grandkids to Angel Fire, New Mexico, without their mom and dad, we could’ve assigned tasks such as who will pack the snacks; who will pick up the kids; what to bring, etc. When I traveled with the other grandparents, my daughter, her husband and my 2 grandkids to Disneyland, this would’ve also been a great tool to coordinate all the components of that trip!
I think this has some fabulous potential for organizing family travel trips, and I can’t wait to try it out on our next family vacation.
Meanwhile, I’m going to try my luck by entering the “After School Cool” Sweepstakes. VolunteerSpot is celebrating Back to School with a HUGE sweepstakes. Someone has to win more than $20,000 in prizes for you and your school – why can’t it be me, so I can continue on the Super Grandma theme!
Some of the great prizes you can win for you AND your child’s afterschool group including a $500 Amex card (to fund uniforms, a trip, a celebration), $150 Care.com FreeTime credits, and $75 Cabot Creamery gift packs with enough artisan cheese to snack up the whole team, gift cards and more! Plus you’ll be automatically entered to win a $1,500 grant for your favorite school. For me that will be my grandkids’ elementary school! Wish me luck!
