Such a loaded question. Thanks WordPress.
I strive to be a solid worker, a fun mother, a good wife, and a loyal friend. A responsible citizen of NJ, USA, and the world. Bah, that’s a lot.
For me, it ebbs and flows. Sometimes I feel like “I’ve got it!”, other times: “halp me.”
There are a few patterns that I observed over the years of working full time, having kids in school, having kids in before/after care, having a house that needs to be cleaned, having a car that needs to be cleaned (foghettaboutit).
- I rarely work at home. I know it goes against the stereotype of teaching but I don’t. I used to bring quizzes home but I would not grade them. I would have the intention, yet I would always, always run out of time. So I stopped doing it, why bother? It just makes me feel bad. So, quizzes stay at work and get graded at work.
- At work, however, I do take care of stuff that is important for my home life. I admit that on my prep periods, I have made kids’ doctors’ appointments, read blogs, and called our estate lawyer. It is just not feasible to shut everything off. I don’t peruse Instagram or Facebook but I do take advantage of my prep periods/lunch to catch up on both work and home life. While I do not bring work home, I do bring home to work if it makes any sense.
- I work in advance at work. I plan lessons, flesh out activities and make copies for lessons 1 to 2 weeks before I am to teach them. This allows some breathing room and a sense of security. I also use many activities from years prior- and that saves time on preparation. I may change a thing or two but, overall, the activities that I have make an impact and all contribute to student learning. Otherwise, why do them?
- Thankfully, we do not have many meetings. We have one faculty meeting a month. Oftentimes, the format is “please work with colleagues on *insert academic stuff*. Department meetings are rare and that is how many of us prefer it. If our boss has something to share, he most certainly will via an email/text/phone call.
- I work in advance at home, too. If I see an event that would be interesting to L, R or both, I place it on the calendar and get tickets. I bought tickets for the Irish dance in January, knowing that that the tickets may be sold out OR I may get lazy and just not go. I think the Lazy genius Kendra Adachi calls it: planting the flags. Those non-negotiable things that shape your calendar (they can be fun or not).
- I leave work to pick them up from two different places, and by the time we get home, all I want to do is pee, make some tea, sit down, and rest. I do not want to socialize, we are not getting ice cream, and, no, we are not going over Amber’s house right now. “Can we pleeeeeeeeease have a play daaaaaaaate?” I am all for play dates, but I just got off work. And I had to explain that to the kids. I said something life “mom worked all day and I just want to go home and rest.” After a while, the begging stopped.
- Weekday routine during rough weeks/days. I pick them up at 5PM, we go home, we unpack, L practices her piano, R plays; we have dinner, we clean up, we go upstairs, we take showers, we read books, we sing songs, and we go to bed at 7:30PM. It is especially important to me to go home and be all cozy and safe in the house if I had a bad day/week.
- Weekday routine during good weeks/days. I pick them up at 5PM from aftercare, we go to the library or the park, then we go home, we unpack, L practices her piano, R plays; we have dinner, we clean up, we go upstairs, we take showers, we read books, we sing songs, and we go to bed around the same time. If I am having a good week, if I have energy, if I am not exhausted, if I am not starving, we will stop by somewhere local before going home.
The weekend recap is mostly in pictures. It was really good! I mentioned that I would lay low in this post – joke’s on me. It was not really a lazy weekend. Rather, a combination of rest and productivity. Highlights: gardening with L, baking muffins with R, friend’s 4th birthday party, a Touch-a-Truck county event and Friendly’s for lunch with R, a solo walk/run on Sunday and a stretching session on Saturday.
Any thoughts on work/life balance? Is that even possible?
Mom of Children 