Why I Work- Part 1

girlsWe all make choices in life that affect not only us but our families. For my family the biggest decision I have made that affects everyone is to be a working mom. I don’t often regret that decision but on occasion I do.  Like most working moms, I sometimes experience “mommy guilt.” I want to be able to help in my children’s classrooms, go on field trips with them and so much more.  It’s a little easier for me now that Madilyn is in school full time.

I feel fortunate that my career allows for me to have holidays, weekends, and summers off.  My current position as a Career Pathways Facilitator took me out of the traditional classroom and has made my life much easier. Gone are the days of grading 100 papers a night to provide timely feedback. Gone are the days of testing, reteaching, and testing again. I really LOVE that my current position allows me to leave work at work so that I can focus on my family when I am home.

I am also glad that I am a morning person. I get more done at home in the mornings than I do at any other time in the week. I pop out of bed get ready for work, then start laundry, unload the dishwasher and begin dinner prep all before anyone else in the house is out of bed. Doing these things early in the morning helps to free up my time in the afternoon.  My afternoons are spent at the Gym, then cooking dinner; cleaning up from dinner and helping Madilyn complete the things that she needs to do before going to bed. I am thankful that I have a husband that knows his way around the kitchen and he helps cook almost every night without me having to ask him.  We could make it easier on ourselves and go out to dinner like many others families do but I enjoy cooking and having family conversations around our dinner table.

When people ask me why I work I have to tell the truth. I work for financial reasons (health insurance, college tuition, and retirement).  David is self-employed so we have no health insurance options or retirement benefits coming from his work.  I have two kids that will need an education, and we more than likely will not qualify for any financial aid. We could get by on my not working, but I don’t want to put my family in the position of not having the funds we need to pay for college or for David and me to be unable to support ourselves in the future.  While my focus is not totally on the future it does play a small role in why I work outside of the home. However, financial reasons are not the only reason I work, there is another even bigger reason which I will discuss tomorrow.

 

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