I don’t write about the work/family topic as much as I should. If I wrote about it in proportion to the amount that I think about it, I would have a blog on the subject every day. These are the questions that I most often grapple with:
- Will my children be better or worse off for me having worked during their childhood?
- Will I look back at my life and regret spending all my working hours away from them?
- Do I even have it in me to stay home with them every day?
- Can a teacher at a daycare or preschool teach them more than I can?
- Am I going to have discipline problems with them because their parents aren’t around enough to offer that steady hand?
- Am I a better mother for trying to do it all even if I’m not always successful?
- Will my daughter(s) look up to me and respect me more for working?
- Can I even afford to stay home?
- Am I being selfish for wanting to work?
- Would I become Bree Hodge (formerly Bree Van de Camp) if I stayed home?
I ask myself these questions every single day. Usually multiple times a day. There are times when I think that I’ve absolutely made the right choice, and others when I think that I’m ruining everything, mostly my child. I guess that the most frustrating part is that I’ll never know what the answers are. All I can do is try to achieve the best balance that I can and be flexible in case my family needs me to make a change one way or the other.
I hope that one day Hailey and her yet unborn sibling(s) will read this and understand how difficult the decision is. Well, one day they'll understand because they'll probably go through it themselves. That's a scary thought.
PS: I’m not pregnant again, people. Get with the program. I’m just asking hypothetical questions!
