We are so thrilled to be featuring guest bloggers all year long. These individuals have navigated their own way through the journey that is being a working mom. This month, we hear from Kim Ploysa, Executive Assistant at a Fortune 500 Company. Thank you, Kim!
Being a working mom doesn’t mean just working while your children are young. I’ve worked since our two sons and our daughter were little – in fact, our youngest doesn’t remember a time when I was a stay-at-home mom. But the times and challenges change as the kids grow up.
You go through the daycare years. Then come the years when you need to begin to trust leaving them on their own after school for the few hours a day until you return home. Hopefully all goes well and the oldest ones aren’t too rough with the little ones (or vice-versa). But then summer comes. Now what do you do? You aren’t ready to trust them all day every day through the whole summer, but they’ve had that taste of freedom and they no longer want a “baby-sitter”. I was fortunate to have a friend who lived on a farm where I took the kids three days a week that first summer.
Finally, they are teen-agers, and that can be the scariest time. Besides being the rebellious years, they may have driver licenses; they may have friends that you don’t know very well; they want more independence… and the list goes on.
At last, the fledglings have flown from the nest. Off to college, or a first apartment, or even married. You are no longer required to be home when your child has a fever, although you are still allowed to worry. Instead, you may be called upon to help an elderly parent as that generation needs more and more help. Then, grandchildren may be a part of your future, and you find yourself wrapped up in the love of these little ones.
There are still birthdays celebrations, holidays and vacations to plan. Time to schedule on weekends between grocery shopping and errand running for time with the adult children and their families. Time for watching grandchildren in school programs and ball games.
And sometimes, life challenges your family in ways you never expected. Almost five years ago, we received one of those dreaded phone calls. Our adult daughter had been in a serious accident that resulted in paralysis below her shoulders, changing her life forever. And as a mom, my life changed as well.
I am still a working mom. My daily routine has changed, but the importance of being a mom NEVER goes away, no matter what age your kids are. They have always been my first priority and always will be.