Kate Fineske has become adept at juggling her roles as mother, wife, career woman and active volunteer in the community.
For her efforts, the Sylvania resident was selected to represent Ohio at the 2012 Mom Congress on Education and Learning in Washington, D.C. Fineske was one of 51 delegates
representing their states (and the District of Columbia) at the third annual conference, held April 29-May 1, 2012.
The conference, sponsored by Parenting magazine, pairs mothers with educational leaders to exchange ideas on how to enhance the educational process. This year’s theme was “Teach Me Something New,” dedicated to strengthening relationships between parents and their children’s teachers.
“The trip was really inspiring,” said Fineske, mother to Elizabeth, 9, Andrew, 5, and Nicholas, 2. “It was amazing to meet up with so many powerful education advocates and other mothers that share the same interestsand passion in education. I learned a
lot about all the ways out there to be an advocate for your child in education.”
In addition to being a mother of three, Fineske is an adjunct instructor at Owens Community College, where she teaches three classes in commercial art and graphic design. She is also a staff member at the National Association of Mothers’ Centers, which serves as an advocate for mothers inthe United States, and serves as vice president of Sylvania Schools’ Parent School Council. In that role, she has assisted in organizing community
events to help educate parents on topics like political candidates, school policies and cyberbullying.
She was also the parent volunteer coordinator for Sylvania Schools’ 2011 levy committee, serves as parent room representative coordinator for her children’s elementary school parentorganization, has provided leadership to the Mothers’ Center of Greater Toledo and blogs weekly about parenting at onthegomomma.net and motherscenter.org/blog.
Fineske grew up in the education world, as both her mother and father were teachers. She continues to be surrounded by educators, with her husband, Adam, serving as executive director of curriculum and assessment for Sylvania Schools and her sister and mother-in-law also in the field.
Fineske said it is vital to have open communication with your child’s teacher.
“The more you communicate with a teacher, the more you understand what’s happening with your child when they’re away from you,” Fineske said. “It allows you to see your child
through somebody else’s eyes who iswith them. I think that was the biggest change for me when my children became school-age was they were withme all the time and then suddenly
they left and went to school for the whole day and I wasn’t able to control what they were doing.”
She knows it’s not easy and there are a lot of activities that pull parents away from their children’s educational process.
“A lot of parents are working. I’m a working parent,” she said.“Parental involvement is changing. I think I’m involved because I’m able to be involved in conversations in e-mail, I’m able to check out websites and see the calendars for what’s going on, I’m involved communicating over the phone with my teacher. Everybody has a different idea of what’s being involved. Do what you can to help out, and just understand every parent has a different tolerance level and time commitment for involvement.”
When it comes to juggling demands, Fineske said it’s all about planning.
“As long as I’m able to get it in my calendar, it works really well,” she said. “If you’re doing something you love, it’s much easier to balance things. It’s when you’re doing something that you really just don’t enjoy, it really starts to become stressful and it’s hard to balance.”
Still, she admits finding the elusive “perfect balance” in life can be unrealistic, even for those who keep their calendars within arm’s reach.
“I don’t think we’re ever really going to find the perfect balance,” Fineske said. “It’s always going to be a struggle. You’re always going to be juggling things. And as soon as you do feel balanced, something happens to throw it off balance. Taking a positive attitude and making sure you’re able to prioritize, it’s just huge.”
As any parent knows, a good support system can make the difference between feeling like things are manageable and pulling your hair out.
“My husband is a huge support,” Fineske said. “He really helps me out when I need it. I’ve been gone four or five days in Washington D.C. and he was here to tuck the kids in, get them to birthday parties, get them to soccerpractice and do everything else that needs to be done. He’s in education too and he gets how important it is for parents to be able to be involved and also to have their own passions they can go after outside of just parenting.”
For more information, visit www. parenting.com/momcongress.
