A mom’s blog post was floating around on social media titled, “Can I Be Honest? Sometimes, I Get Jealous.” The post raises the complexities and difficulties in being a stay-at-home mom or a working mom, and being jealous of the other. There were so many parts of this post that resonated with me. I was feeling all kinds of feels today when I went with my daughter and her preschool class on a field trip. It reminded me: I miss being a stay-at-home mom.
After further reflection, and thinking about my own experience, I also think about when I have worked from home in the past, when I work from home now, and the work from home moms. I always liked the option of being able to work from home because theoretically it’s the best of both worlds–being able to still bring in an income, but also care for the babies. While this is a definite perk, it is also very difficult because you end up working around the clock to make up for the time when you weren’t able to finish x, y, or z because you were watching the kids.
While I had feelings today that brought about emotions of how I miss being a stay-at-home mom, I also felt guilty at the same time because I also feel very privileged to even have a job. So not only are there the feelings of jealousy as the mom describes in her blog post that I mentioned above, but there’s also the infamous mom guilt.
On a more positive note, the big manaʻo in this situation, for me at least, is the ever evolving lesson of living in the moment and being present. When I have the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom, live in that moment. When I have the opportunity to work, live in that moment. Each “job” presents its own challenges and different perks, but this phase when our kids are young and raising them is temporary. They really do grow so fast.