Shelley Baker is a mom of three elementary-aged kids and when she's not running the household she is busy volunteering.
"I volunteer a minimum of 40 hours a week, unpaid," the PTA president told NBC 7. “I have my hand in every single committee and we have about 30 some committees."
Baker volunteers at her children's elementary school in Poway and she admits the commitments are often overwhelming.
“There are a lot of days I say I'm done and I'm ready to hang up my shoes," she said.
"It can be all consuming if you're not careful."
In San Diego, year-round school districts have recently begun and others are about to resume classes. Many parents will find themselves overloaded by requests to volunteer.
While parental involvement is beneficial to kids, trying to strike a balance can be tricky.
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Psychologist Tiffany Powell says taking on too much can take a toll on your entire family's wellbeing. She works with the Santee School District.
To those parents who are willing to volunteer and help out, she has this advice:
"Sometimes people say yes to too many things, they go all out in the beginning and then they burn out so quickly and then it kind of gives them a negative experience so they pull back completely and then they give nothing," Powell said.
That's one of Baker’s concerns too. She said without parental involvement, the students and school suffers.
"If we did not have volunteers so many things would be lost and I think that's what parents don't truly understand," she said.
Powell says be clear about your boundaries to preserve your family's balance.
One way Baker manages the chaos is to put a time limit on her volunteering activities.
"For me it's no calls or text messages after 8 p.m. I put the phone down, put the computer down and I have to walk away," she said.
Parents could also look for signals of stress like feeling as if there's not enough hours in the day or feeling like quality family time is at a minimum, according to the psychologist.
Other suggestions include limiting the number of meetings, events and projects that take you away from your family and choosing the opportunities that also give you time with your children.
