Mommy Teaches

I'm linking up at Kelly's Korner today to share my working mom story.  I hate the working mom/SAHM debate.  Actually, I hate all mom debates.  I pray that moms out there do like I do...the absolute best for their child/children and family.  What's best for you is not necessarily best for me, and that doesn't make it just "good" or second best.  I've seen other moms describe this choice and others in that fashion, though.

I started teaching elementary school in the fall of 2005, right after I graduated college.  When Avery was born, I stayed home 12 weeks, but there was never any doubt that I would return to my job.  Right now, that's what's best for our family.  We were thankful that our first choice in babysitter had an opening, and Avery has been at her in-home daycare for 2.5 years.  Avery loves Jen-Jen, loves her buddies, and loves her days on the farm.  She loves Jennifer's older children and her husband and calls Jennifer's mom Ganny just like her grandchildren do.  Baby Sam will join Avery there next August.  Jennifer is one of our biggest blessings and makes my job as Mommy and teacher much easier.

I have never felt guilty about being a working mother, but that's not to say it's easy.  When I married Ned I picked up a 35 minute drive to work, and dropping Avery off/picking her up adds time to that.  She is less than 10 minutes from school, so she is along for most of the ride.  I hated when she was an infant and had to get up at 6 a.m. to get her bottle and get ready.  Even now, we still wake her at 6:30, and while we may have created a rooster, she's adjusted fine.  I stay there instead of moving closer because it's in my hometown where my parents live and because of the people I work with.  As any working mom will agree, it's also tough to get everything done from 4:30 p.m. until bedtime.  I am lucky that I'm not arriving home at 6 p.m. or later as I'm sure many do.  And, from my time at home, I know that SAHMs don't always have an abundance of time to get things done during the day either.  We do have someone clean our house every other week during the school year, and that does relieve some of the stress on me.

Everyone says that teaching is the perfect job for parents.  The days off are great, and I'm thankful to always have holidays and weekends off.  There are so many needed professions out there that do not have that luxury.  Summer break is much appreciated too and gives me that long stretch at home.  I think teaching is one occupation that gives you a sense of what it's like to work and what it's like to stay at home.  Both have their advantages and disadvantages.

I do have a little vomit rise in my throat though when people say that teaching as a parent is easy, or when summer vacation rolls around and my Facebook feed is full of people who want to go into education.  Please come try a week in my 3rd grade classroom anytime.  Those breaks are needed.  Teaching doesn't allow me to run out on my lunch break, eat in peace, make or receive phone calls, and sometimes I'm lucky if I make it to the bathroom.  I'm wise enough to know that jobs that allow some or all of those things don't have the vacations that teaching does.  Everything in life is a trade-off.

I'm not sure that I'll always work.  With Ned's business, there are ways now that I could stay home, but in a family business, what's possible and what happens are two different things.  I also don't know that I'll always teach.  I love my colleagues, but teaching is not the shiny, happy thing you learn about in college.  I am thankful for my job and the people I work with, and I'm always thankful for those "light bulb moments."  However, I'm never eager to return after summer vacation, and when I'm home, as I am now on bed rest, I'm not wondering what's going on.  That could be due to all the other I need to be concerned with at the present, though.  I try very hard not to bring home work.  I can't do my Mommy, wife, daughter, friend, etc. work at school, so I don't feel the need to do my schoolwork at home if I can help it.  I find it odd that teachers are expected to take a bag home each day and know teachers (myself included) who have bags that never make it past the car in the afternoon.

I have many ideas of what I might want to do one day, ranging from school librarian or gifted instructor to opening a Chik-Fil-A.  Ned has decided I should get my license to appraise homes since we've had lots of difficulty with our appraiser while building and there a need for one in our area.  But, right now, teacher is a hat that I wear in addition to many others, and thankfully it's an overall good fit for my family.