Gradually, as I found a school I clicked with, I began subbing more and more. This was great at first, I was making decent money and able to pay the bills.
However, recently I've been working between three and four days a week.
When I get home I am excited to see my son, but it is hard to have the energy to converse with a toddler when you've spent the day with 25 wily 7 year olds!
I don't know how full time teachers who have children do it! My great friend Josina has a full time job teaching history at a prestigious high school, and then returns home to her husband and energetic 2 year old ( I am jumping the gun, he will be two in March).
The point is, working in any capacity and being a mother is hard! You are doing two very real very hard jobs, both of which are rewarding and exhausting all at once!
What about you? Are you working and mothering at the same time? Are you staying home? What's your story?
I am a SAHM and have a lot of friends who are working full-time moms. We always tell each other "I don't know how you do it!"... Some want to be SAHM, but then one my friends who lives in Lithuania cut her fully paid 2-year maternity leave short and went back to work because she just couldn't take it anymore. She always says "work is like a vacation, Daiva! You eat your lunch, you talk to adults..." And then another friend says she always feels guilty for not feeling any guilt about going back to work when her baby was 6-months :-) So to each is their own. I love being SAHM, but who knows what will happen after the second baby gets here - I might be back in my office just to get some alone time :-)
ReplyDeleteWhether you are working or staying at home, as a mother you are doing the hardest and most rewarding job in the world, and that is being a mom!
ReplyDeleteAs I was mentioned, I figure that I really should comment! I loved being home and I miss it but I also do like my job, well most parts of it. I think that being a mother has made me a better teacher but as I keep adding to the support I give to my students (ummm, why did I assign yet another project????) I worry that I am taking away from my son, if not in exact moments, at least in the energy I can give to those moments. It is a balancing act and every day is new.
ReplyDeleteBut thanks for the shout out. I am not conscious about how it all gets done either!
I took 1 year mat leave for my first (standard issue in canada), this time i am taking an extra 7m and i think next time i will take an extra year (i am lucky because my job offers to hold my job for up to 5 years, called care and nurturing leave). i am torn daily about what to do: stay at home or go to work. the grass is always greener, i find. work: coffee breaks and clothes that stay clean all day, making money versus home: drinking coffee in my housecoat at 9am, not having to go on the bus at 730am on a cold ottawa morning.....
ReplyDeleteJosina, you are the woman! I admire how you balance everything that you do. You do it all and still manage to stay sane!
ReplyDeleteSara- I have to admit, I miss staying home FT. I have the illusion of staying home. I get random "days off" as it were. But I hear you. It is a hard decision to make.