Today, I had the opportunity to flex some time at work and chaperone Nate and his classmates as they — and thousands of kids from his school, other schools, and other towns — attended the Kane County Cougars semipro baseball game against the Chicago Dogs.

It was fun and I loved being able to spend time with him in the middle of the day and week. But it opened my eyes to a new definition of the word “chaperone”…

Unpaid babysitting

Oh, who am I kidding? Seeing as I had to buy my own ticket to get in to the game instead of having it covered by the PTO, and I had to buy my own food and drink while the kids received vouchers for a free hot dog and soda, let’s alter that definition further…

Babysitting that I pay you to let me do

Yes, it was fun and I don’t regret doing it, but maybe thank us with a little more than just a “thank you” next time.