Dear DTS, I so understand how you are feeling. Can't tell you how many times I "tried" to quit last year. The best advice I got was to keep my focus on the kids and make my decisions on what I feel is the best for the kids. That encompasses it all. On some level, everything that we do as a PTO effects the students, whether it be buy playground equipment, buy furniture for the classrooms, buy classrooms supplies or put together a family night. Sometimes it was about the hardest thing I ever did to stand up for what I felt was "right", but now I can see that I did the right thing. I decided that some people are just adult bullies and will be sweet as sugar in front of everybody else, but will almost eat you alive when given the chance. Well, I just stood my ground in as nice a way as I could, and now our PTO is on the right track. This year has started out wonderful. I wish you the best of luck. Hang in there if you can stand it and remember why you agreed to volunteer for the PTO in the first place. Chin up and smile.

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dts - Hello, Friend! Boy do I remember the first month of every school year. Something about the gap between the end of one school year and the start of the next rebuilds our optimism and enthusiasm. I imagine it's the same thing that helps us forget the pain of childbirth so we will go on to have more children.....

DonnaS, dlf, critter and tbare are all so right:

~ The work you do is invaluable
~ You are making a difference for so many
~ Some may grumble, but...
~ Do it anyway (The best advice! Thanks Critter!)
~ Keep a running list of highlights and achievements (via newsletter, bulletin board, etc) to help you remember why you do what you do.

My advice: Keep coming back here. We're all in it together to have a positive impact on our communities. You're among friends here. It's easy enough to get mired down in the local stuff and feel like you're all alone in it. You're not alone.

[You are making a difference. You are making some little boy or girl feel good about their education because of a brightly decorated bulletin board. You're making a teacher approach their day with a smile because of a treat in the teacher's lounge. You're doing something that no one else in the world is doing at your school and your children and every other child there will benefit. So hang in there. It'll probably get worse before it gets better, but once you build it "they will come".
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I absolutely LOVE this quote; and will use it at our 1st PTO meeting this evening! Thank you for the inspiration.

We opened a brand new school last year and I am the 1st PTO President for our group. I've tried to quit, cried myself to sleep, and screamed in the shower out of frustration. I figure no one will really understand what it took to get the group incorporated and then filing that lovely 501c3... I'm continually amazed at the personal attacks that are waged by fellow parents. Yet, here I am for year two. My skin is thicker and and I've built my mental stamina on our many successes from year one, not the few ugly uprisings that marred a meeting or two. The PTO has enriched the academic and extra-curricular life of my children and all 1,000 of their friends at school. The work is hard, the time is often unappreciated, but the rewards are multiplying: Accelerated math program, teacher grants, scoreboard, marquee, after-school book clubs... It is worth the effort. Keep your chin up!

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Go buy the book, Anyway, by Kent M. Keith. You need to absorb his "Paradoxical Commandments". My personal favorite is, "If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do Good Anyway." Or another, :"The biggest men/women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men/women with the smallest minds. Think Big Anyway."

If you believe in your heart, that you have the students and school's best interests as your priority, and you are guided by good and right, then hang in there.