Jugglers Workshop | All About Time
Juggling Workshop
Working Moms' Q & A
The daily tug-of-war between your career and your kids can leave you torn between the two worlds. Where do you turn? The Juggling Workshop! Ask questions and share suggestions about juggling work and family.
This week's question:
I am so glad to find your website. I am a 37-year-old working mother with two wonderful children ages 12 and 6. I GET TIRED!!! Please tell me how in heaven's name you are supposed to hold a full-time job, take the children to their sports events and music lessons, etc. and still be the "nice person" that everyone expects you to be. I recently read the book FASCINATING WOMANHOOD. I would love to hear some comments on this. Any encouragement at all would be nice.
-- LD
Who said we had to be nice? I must've missed that instruction! LOL, All I can
do is sympathize with you, I just turned 38 last Friday and my kids ages are
14 and 16. They wear me out on a regular basis. I thought I would have some
relief from 'mom's taxi service' duties when the oldest turned 16, wrong,
she always wants to borrow my car, but not to do 'errands' like taking her
sister places etc. LOL The kids both tell me I get cranky when overtired,
they also tell me I need to take a nap! Do you think we will get any rest
after they finish growing up and leave home?
-- Ronni
I am a working mother age 46. I went back to work full time when my
sons were 13 and 16 due to my husband losing his job. His company had a
take over and fired everyone in the place. But thats another story.
Anyway, I too was tired all the time. Trying to work full time and then
work all night when you get home is next to impossible. I hit upon a
solution that worked for me, might work for you. I worked out a deal
with my 13 year old that he would do the wash, straighten the house( to
include dusting and vaccuming if necessary during the week and put
dinner in the oven (if I left him instructions). For this I paid him
$20 to $25 a week depending on how much he did. It was worth every
penny. I would have paid someone more to come in and do what he did, he
had a job at 13 and best of all, when I came home, I could kick off my
shoes and sit and talk to the family without having things hanging over
my head. The deal was if I had to nag or remind him, he didn't get paid.
I never had to remind him once! Perhaps your children could share the
tasks and the money. Even if you pick them up at a sitter on the way
home from work, if you tell them that they must do their jobs for their
money as soon as you get into the house, this will give you time to
relax.
Good luck!
-- Diane
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