The Family Today
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Where Is The Family Today?
Here, I'm going to ask you a question. I am looking to start a conversation that is well past due. What has your experience been as a Mom?
Do you go out to work in the morning? Do you struggle with day care?
Do you work an outside job at home with your little ones running around?
Do you work full time as a Mom with all the varied jobs that entails?
In my opinion, none of these choices is easy to live out and has its own challenges and joys. On this lens I hope to engage you in a conversation on your experience, the choices you've made and why, what struggles you'd like advice on, what tidbits of knowledge you've picked up along the way that could help someone else's journey. All of us mothers are in this together and pass through similar stages in our lives as mothers. Maybe by sharing we can make all of our journeys a little easier.
Buy This Allposters.com
Do you go out to work in the morning? Do you struggle with day care?
Do you work an outside job at home with your little ones running around?
Do you work full time as a Mom with all the varied jobs that entails?
In my opinion, none of these choices is easy to live out and has its own challenges and joys. On this lens I hope to engage you in a conversation on your experience, the choices you've made and why, what struggles you'd like advice on, what tidbits of knowledge you've picked up along the way that could help someone else's journey. All of us mothers are in this together and pass through similar stages in our lives as mothers. Maybe by sharing we can make all of our journeys a little easier.
Buy This Allposters.com
This Lens Has Been Lovingly Adopted from GrowWear
Thank You, Mimi
GrowWear passed this lens over to me in March, 2011. After her strong start, I am making some updates. I hope you like it.
Please leave your comments at the bottom of the page, adding any improvements you would like to see to make it fit your needs. I hope the conversation between Moms continues. Moms juggle so many responsibilities these days, and it's good to have some support from others who are going through the same things.
Enjoy your read!
Please leave your comments at the bottom of the page, adding any improvements you would like to see to make it fit your needs. I hope the conversation between Moms continues. Moms juggle so many responsibilities these days, and it's good to have some support from others who are going through the same things.
Enjoy your read!
How Would You Describe Your Work as a Mom?
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What to Do: Stay Home With Your Children or Go Out to Work?
What Have You Decided to Do?
Although this question may seem simple, there is no simple answer to it. Every woman who has a child is faced with it.
No matter what decision you make, you are trying to do the best thing for yourself and your family. Maybe you feel you don't have a choice in the matter. Money is short and you need the money to survive, or maybe there are no jobs available in your area and so working isn't even an option.
And when it comes right down to it, someone has to take care of the kids. Maybe it's your husband, maybe it's you, or maybe it's a grandparent or a neighbor. Maybe you have a day care nearby to your home or your work. Maybe you don't.
Children grow up quickly, or so it appears to someone who has already gone through it. While your children are small, it seems as if it will last forever.
If you do go out to work, will you feel as if you've missed out on your baby's milestones? Will you have enough time to spend with your child to nurture the bonds that will last a lifetime?
If you stay at home, will you feel life has passed you by? Will you miss out on the career you have prepared for or that you wanted to have? Will you have enough money to support your family?
We women are really good at beating ourselves up, aren't we?
No matter what decision you make, you are trying to do the best thing for yourself and your family. Maybe you feel you don't have a choice in the matter. Money is short and you need the money to survive, or maybe there are no jobs available in your area and so working isn't even an option.
And when it comes right down to it, someone has to take care of the kids. Maybe it's your husband, maybe it's you, or maybe it's a grandparent or a neighbor. Maybe you have a day care nearby to your home or your work. Maybe you don't.
Children grow up quickly, or so it appears to someone who has already gone through it. While your children are small, it seems as if it will last forever.
If you do go out to work, will you feel as if you've missed out on your baby's milestones? Will you have enough time to spend with your child to nurture the bonds that will last a lifetime?
If you stay at home, will you feel life has passed you by? Will you miss out on the career you have prepared for or that you wanted to have? Will you have enough money to support your family?
We women are really good at beating ourselves up, aren't we?
Moms: For better or worse, how has working outside the home changed yours and your children's lives?
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I say...
What others are saying...
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Expand Here About Your Experience as a Mom
If you have more to say, here's the place to say it.
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jptanabe
Feb 6, 2010 @ 11:20 am | delete
- Funny thing is I kind of did it in reverse - I worked out of the house when my daughter was young and worked at home when she became a teenager! When my daughter was born I had a full-time job, but fortunately they had daycare so she joined my colleagues' children - like an extended family. When she went to school she was able to get the bus back to my work and either hang out in my office or the cafeteria for a bit. Some days she went to my friend's who ran an after school daycare. Mostly it was good, and it encouraged me to leave work on time and even go do something fun like go swimming or to the park instead of straight home to make dinner! When she was in high school I was "downsized" out of that job and started working from home, so I was home when she got home. Probably a good thing! All in all I think it's worked well - I would have gone crazy without the adult challenges of work when she was little (can only take so much "Barney"!) and I was more available when she needed to talk as a teenager.
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Momtothezoo
Oct 29, 2009 @ 12:36 pm | delete
- When my children were young, I had no choice but to work...I was married to a man who didn't. They were hard years and I spent as much time with my children as I could. However, since I had a 60 hour a week job and two sets of books that I kept at home to make ends meet, I did not have time to spend a great deal of time with the children. They were happy children and learned to be understanding of our needs but I lost so much that I can never recapture. I am lucky...my children are close to me and totally appreciate my hard work to support them. But I feel the loss as a mother and keep my grandchildren whenever I can so that I don't lose that time with them. And, too, my children don't have to worry as much about their children and their care as I did mine. I feel mothers need to be home whenever possible and, if they sacrifice to do so, they will be rewarded over and over in the years to come.
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GrowWear
Oct 18, 2009 @ 2:15 pm | in reply to Sylvestermouse | delete
- Super fantastic, Cynthia! Thank you for posting. :)
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Sylvestermouse
Oct 18, 2009 @ 2:00 pm | delete
- When my daughter was born, I was definitely career minded. She was born on a Monday. I was at work the Friday before her birth and I was back the Friday after she was born. How did it change my life: 5 months later, I quit a career that I had worked for years to obtain. After that, we struggled financially for years. We supplemented my husband's income with our savings. I drove the car I had the day she was born for the next 10 years. I stopped traveling and buying the latest fashions and we literally saved my husband's pocket change for weeks so we could eat McDonalds occasionally. How did it change my life? Easy answer: Now I have one!
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JaguarJulie
Jul 15, 2009 @ 2:21 pm | delete
- My hubby's son is in his mid twenties -- without going into detail, I think he needed his mother more when he was growing up -- she was a mid-wife nurse who worked odd hours.
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daria369
Jun 18, 2009 @ 9:02 pm | delete
- Can't answer your question yet like the way you engage visitors in discussion - very creative!! :)
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aj2008
Jun 11, 2009 @ 2:05 pm | delete
- I have worked mainly from home since my younger children were babies. I did not have the option with the older ones - and I am sure me not being at home when they got home from school contributed to a lot of the problems I had with one of them.
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mukunda22
Jun 3, 2009 @ 12:25 pm | delete
- I have worked full time for 25 plus years and am ready to go another route--like retirement!! lol!
But it's been a blessing.
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C-Joy
May 31, 2009 @ 10:33 pm | delete
- If I had to pay for daycare I wouldn't be able to work outside the home - it wouldn't be worth it! I'm fortunate that I'm an educator so my schedule will match my daughter's when she goes to school, which is one year from now :)
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OhMe
May 31, 2009 @ 4:05 am | delete
- Great discussion question for Twitter Storm. I had a shop with a partner so was only there after school hrs for 2 days a wk. Later I worked at my husband's office so I pretty much came and went as needed with family coming first.
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Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years' Time?
Will You Be Working at Home? Outside the Home? Retired?
In five years. I hope to be working from home exclusively. Because I am a writer, I cannot imagine not writing at all, but I hope that in five years I will no longer have to also have a job elsewhere.
What about you? Will you be working at home in five years? Will your children be old enough for you to finally work full time outside the home? Have you been juggling both for a while now and look forward to focusing on just one or the other in five years?
My prediction
I predict I will be writing full time in five years. What will you be doing?
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About Sheilamarie
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by sheilamarie
sheilamarie
I have worked as a parent educator with families of young children for eight years. And, yes, that really is me in the wheelbarrow. Are these two fact... more »
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