Monday, February 7, 2011

Just a little insight....

I work a full time job. It's something I really enjoy, and it is something that I beleive is worth my effort. I work in Nutrition and Ag Research, evaluating the effects that having a school garden has on the students. The goal is to prove that there is merit in environmental learning and nutrition education in order to force policy changes. I also do some work in food deserts and bringing access to healthy foods to communities that don't have that. I love it. I stayed at home until my oldest was 4, but I felt that this was something that I really needed to do. It's a great job, I get to travel, great benefits, etc. etc. etc.

I say all that though to say that somedays, actually most days I really want to just be a stay at home mom. I enjoyed the time I got to stay home with the girls and feel that it was a blessing I got to for that long. I think it's a struggle for many moms.

Even though I work outside the home, we still eat homeade meals, I still do homeschooling lessons with my daughters, although next year the oldest will probably go to a public school. I sew. We have large gardens, an orchard, livestock and a whole variety of other fun stuff around our little "homestead". Normally once a month or so I host a litle "cooking" type day, where me and a friend and our families get together and put up food, if we have produce we can, freeze or dry, other times like this month we make homeade pasta and ravioli to use throughout the year. We all work for about half a day, then split whatever was made.

Thankfully, I have a wonderful husband who is very supportive, and our babysitter is a wonderful lady, who shares my vision for child raising. I think that among other things, I can be an advocate for working moms. I can say " I work too, but that doesn't mean you have to have fast food nightly, or babysit the kids with television at night.". It can be exhausting, but it is so rewarding.

4 comments:

  1. I don't know how full-time working moms do it. It sounds like your priorities are in the right place, that's for sure! I feel blessed to be able to stay home with my lil' guy and pursue all of my interests while working a job I love part-time. Continued blessings...

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  2. Thank you for your encouragement and good for you for being able to stay home with your little one!

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  3. Really love this post - I feel the same way about working vs staying home being a mom! I work outside the home too, although generally only 30h/week. My daughter goes to daycare 2 days a week to a great lady who lives down the road from us, and my husband (who works fri-mon) is home with her the other 3 days. I too often really wish I could just be at home with her, but I also love my job and am very proud to be bringing in money to support our family. It is hard keeping a balance with everything around the property, work, life, etc, but you are so right - it is so rewarding!

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  4. Thanks for the comment! I enjoy reading your blogs and didn't realize you worked outside the home.

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