Being A Working Mom

As you may know, I work full time outside of the home as a Registered Nurse for a local health department. As frustrating and challenging as my job can sometimes be, I absolutely love what I do. I get to deal with people of all sorts of backgrounds. There's just enough variety in it to keep the routine from getting stale.

Many of the parents I know from Carson's friends or online, are stay at home moms.
I've always said that I could never stay home, all day, every day, with my children.  Living where we do, I would absolutely go stir crazy if I were a stay at home mom. There is literally nothing to do for kids in our town! The nearest town with activities for kids is about a 25-30 minute drive for me.  Kudos to you mommas who stay home and don't go insane.

Back to me working....

Anyways, I work 35 hours a week at a 8:30-4:30, five day a week job. I see my boys for about 45 minutes in the morning while we are getting ready for the day, and then for about 3-4 hours in the evening before it is bedtime.  During the evening I try to spend my time with them as much as possible, but there are dishes to do, baths to be given, laundry to wash and fold, etc., etc.  Recently I got to be a stay at home mom for a few days when we had a blizzard. I loved spending extra time with my boys. It made me think though, about how much I am missing of their lives because I do work.

I miss volunteering at Carson's school. I can't always take them to doctor's appointments. I can't always go on field trips with Carson. I miss snuggling with my two handsome little men. I can't talk to his teacher after school if he's had a bad day. I don't get to hang out with the other moms waiting for our kids to come running out the doors at 3:00 every day. I don't get to socialize with adults that aren't my coworkers. I just can't be there...and frankly, it sucks!

I want to be there for everything, but that's just not possible. I am there for classroom parties and take them to appointments when I can, but work needs me. My family needs me too. I am there for all the important things, and if I can't be, daddy is there for them, or grandma is there. We make it work so that someone is always there.

There's a certain balance that I have to keep between work and home, yes, it may suck at times, but sometimes its just perfect and it works for us. Does it frustrate me? Yes. Do I feel like I am failing my kids? Sometimes. Does it make me any less of a good mom? I don't think so.

I guess the point of this post is this....You don't have to be a stay at home mom to love your children. You don't have to work to buy them things to be a good mom. As long as you are there for them when you are with them, you're doing it right and that's all that matters.