The Roadcap family makes time work for them

By Candy Reagan

Cooper teacher Michelle Roadcap has seen first-hand that children who aren't involved in activities often don't do well in school, so she's making sure that doesn't happen to her own two daughters.

She doesn't have anything to worry about.

Roadcap's daughters, Danielle, 13, and Malia, 15, are about as involved as two children can get. Danielle, an eighth-grader at Lincoln, plays all of her school's sports, is in the advanced choir, competes in UIL, is taking pre-Advanced Placement classes and also plays on a select soccer team.

Malia, a sophomore at Abilene High School, plays on a select volleyball team and on her school's JV volleyball team. She also is in the women's choir at AHS, is in pre-AP classes and has volunteered as a tempoette for the Abilene Philharmonic. Plus both girls are involved in church activities.

Roadcap said the only way she can juggle everything is by staying very organized and getting lots of help.

"We depend a lot on friends and neighbors," she said. "We carpool a lot and help each other out."

Roadcap said everything starts with her calendar, where she keeps track of every game, practice or commitment.

"I'm very organized," she said. "I write things down. If it's not written down, I probably don't get it done. I have a calendar with everything - when I need to be where, who I need to pick up, who's carpooling with whom. I'm just very organized about that."

She said she and her husband, Bob, often have to split up, and he will travel with Danielle to soccer, while she takes Malia to volleyball.

"Sometimes our family time is rushed and hurried and sometimes it's in the car," she said. "But we still manage to do a lot of things as a family. We get together and do church as a family. It seems to work out. "

Roadcap said she tries to keep meals as simple as possible because the family is going so fast.

"I don't try to cook a big dinner because no one would be here to eat it anyway," she said. "We do really simple things."

Roadcap said school, homework and grades come first - both her daughters are straight-A students. And the girls sometimes have to make choices, she said, because they simply can't do everything.

But she said she doesn't mind spending the time and money to help them discover and develop interests in a variety of activites.

"I want the best possibilities for them," she said. "I want them to explore the possibilities that they want to do to see what they are good at and what they like and don't like."
"There are times when I get stressed out about it," she admitted. "I have sacrificed a lot of my time for them.

"But I know in the scheme of things it's a short amount of time, and then they will be gone."