When I was raising my kids, I used to say that work was therapy for home and home was therapy for work. (Eleanor Clift in an interview with Deborah Solomon in yesterday's Times)
I think she hits the nail on the head, even though right this minute I'd love to be home nursing my cold and reading Angela Thirkell in bed. I'm a better parent because I don't spend 24 hours a day with my child, and a better employee for having a life outside of the office.
26 comments:
Amen to that! Also - thank the universe for daycare/preschool! That's the only way I get a sick day. I can't be sick with kids underfoot. I might as well be at work.
Yes! Very true. Whether working or staying home we have to have balance. Something that is away from home and something that is away from work.
Right on!
oh, yes! back when the kids were growing and i had a very intense job, i used to joke that i saved the world by day, made costumes [for school events] by night. and did all the other stuff in between.
So true. So very true.
So true...well said.
Exactly why I am now returning to work after 3 years of being home and going out of my mind with a toddler and a preschooler.
Balance.
I often say that part of why I work is so that my time with my kids is the time off, not the time on.
That's a great meditation for my first day back at work.
I go to school every night during the week, and it tears me apart to leave my daughter. But when I am home with her all day, I feel like I appreciate her so much more, and cherish the time we spend together.
I'll second freshhell's "Amen to that!"
that sounds about right
As a SAHM (well, WAHM, but I still don't get away from my kids much), I wholeheartedly agree with this. I think time to be yourself, as a person, is so important to your ability to parent without resentment, and with a fresher outlook.
There are lots of ways to get this I think, work being a great one. I value the time my kids are in school, partly because I'm always excited to see them when they get home.
Can I get an AMEN?! AMEN!
Yep. (And boy do I wish I had a life outside my home!!!) I wish someone had taken me by the shoulders and shaken some sense in to me when I was making these decisions...
I thought the same thing, when I read that on Saturday. I love her.
Totally agree, in theory. Problem is, I can't figure out how to make part time work work. Can't figure out how I would come home and not be totally exhausted and bitchy because now I'm doing my night job. Last week, I had a three hour orientation for some volunteer work I'll be doing and discovered my attention span has diminished to about one tenth of that. Then, coming home, as I made the second to last turn before my drive way, it was as if a huge weight crushed onto me. My children have a tractor beam.
Ahem. A little strident. I'll slink out the back now.
I hadn't read that quotation. Thank you for referencing it.
afreakingmen.
I am a much better Mom if I have any break from my kids -- even if I get to go to the dentist by myself. Yet, I am in awe of how working Moms get it all done. .
I just read that (such is work and kid-life that I am just getting to the magazine on monday night) and liked it a lot. My job and my child are both great, but I sometimes need a break from each of them.
And I'm a better daughter for not staying with my mother for the entire 2 weeks of my visit! Now, if she would ony understand that....
and blogging is therapy for...?
I used to work through the house...
And it was a perfect combination...
And whenever I took work too seriously,there was a three year old reminding me of the bigger picture...
That is a quote to live by--it really is. Thanks for the reminder.
On Fridays I say "thank GOD it's Friday!" and on Mondays I say "thank GOD it's Monday!" I too wish i could work part time. Or else get this trophy wife thing to work out.
Post a Comment