The purpose of this series is not to persuade people into being working moms, or moms at all! I have the utmost respect for stay-at-home moms or women who choose not to have children.
I am also not trying to say this is what every working mother experiences. Just like I do not claim to be able to speak for all females, all Caucasians, or all Americans, I also do not claim to speak for all working moms. You know, like the fine print of diet plans, "results not typical." This is simply my experience.
Want more? Hope Community Church is doing a 5-part series on moms in the workplace. Read about it here: http://www.gethope.net/marketplace/events.
To stay at home or not to stay at home... that is the question.
I grew up in a household with a working dad and a stay-at-home mom. When we got a bit older, my mom occasionally worked as a substitute teacher. As I mentioned in my disclaimers (trying to stave off some of the angry comments...), I have the utmost respect for stay-at-home moms.
I spent the first few years of my life in an environment where I was encouraged to explore curiosity, learning, creativity, you name it. My mom was able to give me one-on-one attention (ok one-on-two before Kara was school-aged) and take a direct approach with my education. I entered Kindergarten knowing my numbers, letters, and how to read several words. When I was sick, my mom was able to take care of me without having to take off from work or get it ok-ed by her boss. When my sisters and I got involved in extracurricular activities, guess who was there to cheer us on? Yep. In fact, maybe I should thank my mom for everything she did for us. *pauses to call mom*
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| so thankful for my mom! |
And that's when I made the decision to be a stay-at-home mom.
Wait... but you're not a stay-at-home mom. What happened?
Life happened.
My original plan was to quit Enthalpy before trying to get pregnant (because seriously, the chemicals that floated around that place... *shudder*), be a stay-at-home mom until the kid(s) were school age, then go back to school to get my teaching license and be a teacher.
Well, in 2009 (a year after we got married), life at Enthalpy went from bad to worse to worse than I could have imagined. So I quit.
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| Last day at Enthalpy |
I loved teaching.
I mean, loved. I get to spend my day talking, being energetic/silly/creative, and sharing my love of science? Sign me up! For me, teaching isn't just a job (thank goodness, because the low pay and lack of respect would make it pretty unbearable if it was just a paycheck!) -- it is my calling, my mission field. I get to build relationships with 90 impressionable teenagers every four months and build lasting relationships with downtrodden coworkers who are in desperate need of hope. While I can't outright speak about Christ in the classroom, I can be salt and light and love on my students in a reflection of Christ's love for them.
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| food at a baby shower my Physical Science students threw for me read the story here |
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| at the science department baby shower/end-of-year bash more about that here |
When Jason and I were ready to have children, I don't think we even discussed whether I would work or not. We both knew how I felt about teaching by that point, and it was just a given that I would continue working.
Next up: The Dreaded Daycare Decision (yay, alliteration!)
Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. Please share yours in the comments section.
5 comments:
I think it makes sense for people who have a career they love to still work with children if they desire so. ;)
OH and I of course envy those who LOVE what they do. ;)
It definitely makes a difference. I think things would have turned out differently if I had any other job.
I think there is a key element here that is hard to understand. Because you choose to work - you don't HAVE to work - it truly is a choice. Women that have to work and would rather stay home, but do not have that option, have a really hard time understanding why anyone would choose to be away from their children. It's sort of like people who want to retire but can't, don't understand why others work until they croak. You can't underestimate the peace of mind having that choice gives you. If Tyler's daycare situation went to pot, or you burned out on teaching, you could leave. Having been in both scenarios, no option to stop working and choosing to work, I can tell you that though they look the same to everyone on the outside, they feel very very different.
Catherine, you're totally right. I had this whole long thing about other reasons why people are working moms, but deleted it because the post was getting super long.
I have a friend who wants to quit before having children because she is unhappy in her job. However, her and her husband are used to two incomes and it would be very different for them to only have one.
I also have friends who are single moms or have the higher-paid job in the household. So many different situations, so many different decisions that have to be made when having children...
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