It is having your kids walk in from school and word vomit all their daily needs and experiences on you when you’re still working, on a video conference call with your speaker on mute.
It is moving instantly from employee to parent when the clock strikes 5 and you close your laptop. No pause, no breath, not even a second to transition. It’s homework, dinner, laundry, soothing concerns and sibling fights.
But it is also showing my kids that I care about doing good work. It is demonstrating work ethic and versatility. It is telling them that parents work hard 24/7 no matter what kind of jobs they do.
I would like to think that my kids saw me working hard as a stay-at-home mom, and the truth is, THEY DID. Every day.
But the truth is also, that they won’t remember most of it. Who remembers a whole lot about life before they went to school? The times we spent together and the foundation we built during that time will always be there, but for them, the memories won’t.
My youngest son is seven. My oldest, fourteen. And the girl in the middle? She’s eleven, and I KNOW she’s watching me closely these days.
THESE are the days they will remember.
They will remember me as a working mom. And so personally, and professionally, I’ll work to be the very best example to them. I will also be an example of how to fail and try again, FOR SURE. I will be an example of how to PRIORITIZE. An example of a mom who let the floors get dusty rather than say “no to playing an after-work board game.
I’ll do my best in this season. And I pray that when they get there in life, they’ll remember it — and do their best too.
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