Remember the six month itch I had a couple years back? Well, it’s back, but it’s for real this time and it could be called the My Baby’s Going to Be One Soon and I’m Starting to Freak Out About Having a Career Again Itch.
Or, as I’ll refer it to, The Limbo Rock. (Also, that’s a lot shorter).
I’m in limbo here, people.
I’m craving work. Like real, paid work. Yet, I don’t want to give up some of the flexibility I have by being home with my children.
I’m so torn. Many of my friends whose kids are older tell me to cherish my baby. And so I’m doing that. But they are also the ones who’ve managed to carve nice, flexible careers. And, they somehow managed to do it when their children were young.
So I feel like now’s the time. The baby is almost a year. (I know this isn’t “old,” but it’s not like newborn madness.) I have that ITCH. I want to do more.
But I want the cuddles when I want them. I want to be able to pick up my son from school and his activities. I want to be there for bedtime.
Do I give that up for a taste of an office? A meeting? A *gasp* paycheck?
I’m partly sure I do.
But, there’s the part of me that is worried once I get under that limbo stick I’ll fail and fall down.
I’m doing the Limbo Rock.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m thinking the same thing, but from the opposite point of view. My son asked me not to go to work today for the first time. It was tough to hear that he continued to talk about it all day. I only wish I knew what would make us all happier and fulfilled. If you find out, let me know.
Gotta do what’s right for you, whatever that may be. So hard for each of us to answer that question. The key phrase in your post was “taste of an office.” That’s the ticket. That’s the golden happy medium for a lot of people. Just so hard to find it, I think.
Wow, I really could have written this post. I am on the other side, working full time with a toddler and another on the way. And I want so badly to stay at home, or work from home…but then I am worried about leaving the workforce. What if I lose my mojo? What if I can’t hack it? I know that limbo feeling all too well.
It’s funny that I’m hearing here from the working moms who want to be at home vs. some of my peers wanting to go back to work… is that telling?
Girl, the grass is always greener…
I say find a flexible arrangement that works for you. Part time in the office, full-time at home, whatever you feel you can handle.
When I started working full-time from home last year, I realized how much I was missing… but also how much I could flex so that I could do the school pick-ups and activities and homework and all that jazz. I now make jokes with my boss that I’m ruined for real corporate work – I never want to work in a traditional 8-5 office job again.
Are you registered with the staffing agencies? I’ve been working from home for three years now on a project through Paladin. It’s kind of the best of both worlds. We can talk offline if you are interested.
I think maybe the working friends whose kids are older are telling you to cherish the baby because they wished they could’ve. I know I do.
I am cherishing!! Thanks Tela.
Robyn’s right about the grass always seeming greener; Limbo Rock is the official dance of modern motherhood.
I think different things work for different families. Because I am the one who has the income, I work while my hubby stays home. But I DID stay home for 6 months when my middle son was born and I would give my right arm to be able to stay home full time!!!!!!!!!!!
that I wish I didn’t have to be at work and could be there for them too.
I think sometimes we think that as they get older we’ll feel less urge to be home, and granted I still have a 2 year old that desperately wants me home with him, but there are also TONS of days that involve my older boys (now almost 7 and
I think that one of the best things for a child to have is a HAPPY mom and I don’t think any one situation fits everyone, but sometimes its really hard to know what you’ll want a little down the road