Now that we are done with the child-bearing part of life, I’ve been mulling what I’ll do next. I have some time before I need to make a decision, but mulling is one of my hobbies.
Based on the employment opportunities in our town, a front-runner possibility is to get a 6-week nursing assistant degree and work in the nursing home. This might be a poor fit for many, many reasons (shift issues, crying-at-the-drop-of-a-hat issues, maybe-I’d-just-hate-it issues)—but if so, the investment of time and energy involved in trying it wouldn’t be too disheartening; and if it does work out, there’s room for getting more training and making a career of it.
Another possibility is to get a job in the school system, so I’d be on the same schedule as the kids until they’re all old enough to be at home by themselves.
I am sparing you a list of all the other possibilities, as there are legion, none of which are MORE interesting than those two.
All this mulling has made me interested to know other people’s plans. Some of you may be planning to go back to school. Some of you are already working but may be planning to change hours/shifts or change companies or change jobs entirely when there’s less little-kid stuff in your lives. Some of you are at home and are planning to go back to established careers. Some of you are at home and already know what you’re planning to do next. Some of you are probably like me, mulling the possibilities. Tell me what you’re planning/mulling! Or tell what you DID do, if you’ve gone through this already!
Woman plans, God laughs. My plans were to take a leisurely few years off after Boy#4 started school, nap every day and be bright-eyed and confident when my dream job came along. Instead, the dream job appeared out of nowhere the year Four started kindergarten, and here I am, 17 years later, still waiting for that nap. The right thing will appear MAGICALLY when you’re ready for it. Seriously. It will.
My old job is gone (the contract is gone, it’s not even just taken by someone else) so I’m going to spend around 9 years SAHMing (I’m on year 5) and then probably find something. I’ve thought about entrepreneurial things like starting a business, but I’m disorganized and hate paperwork. I’ve thought about going back to school, but I don’t even know what I WANT to do. And since I’ve been home for so long I’m not qualified for anything anyway. I’ll be watching this with interest as I’m a bit down on the future right now. :-/
I’m confused why “Be a famous blogger who rakes in cash” isn’t on the list.
I think about this ALL THE TIME! My youngest starts full day kindergarten this fall and I have options opening up to me. The great thing about nursing is that I have a ton of possibilities in terms of hours worked and place of work. If I took a job in, say, OB, it would be like learning a whole new profession.
Right now I work weekend night shift (cardiothoracic critical care) so I can be home with my youngest during the week. When she starts school, I will start looking for a job in the cath lab (where they open up heart blockages, put in pacemakers, etc). I don’t particularly care about day or night shift, because my FIL retired in January and has offered his services in terms of after school care.
The cath lab will be all during the week and only occasional weekend call time, so that will be different. So different that it kind of freaks me out. I’m sure I’ll get used to it, but I like my routine and I’ve had the same one for nine years now. It will also be a pay cut unless I work full-time, so I worry about that, too.
Do I want to work full-time? Or can I make our budget work without my weekend shift differential? No idea yet, but I’m looking forward to leaving critical care. I’ve been here for 11 years and am ready for something different (but not TOO different).
I work part time from home as a freelance writer (mostly doing marketing stuff for non-profits and small businesses) while my husband earns our real, mortgage-paying money at his job. We set our household up this way so that I could be home with kids and still have some income, prevent my brain from leaking out my ears, and avoid the crazy-making corporate environment with which I’m simply not compatible.
I’ve cut way back in the 10 months since Ellie was born, but I will be increasing my hours again once she’s a little less labour intensive and I’m more motivated to spend my baby-free time doing client work. The plan right now is to increase them even more when she and any future siblings are all in school, but that’s pretty far off right now, so I guess we’ll see what life looks like at that point.
I am on leave from teaching, so I’ll go back to that *but* on my good days with the kids, I think to myself, “I’m really good at this. I should do it for a living.” As in run in-home childcare. And part of the fantasy is that I would keep the house so much tidier because it’d be part of a paid job. But then I have a bad day with the kids and I think, “What a terrible idea that home childcare thought was.”
I’m kinda curious why “professional writer or editor” of some kind isn’t on your list?
if my kids go to the charter school instead of the local school, someone will have to pick them up and drop them off, so I’ll probably try to go back to school a few classes at a time while still being to drive them back and forth. Ultimately I’d like to end up being a librarian and then working in a school library, I think. Why no one thought this would be a good idea for me to pursue in school, I have no idea, since it’s basically the perfect job for me, but you have to know that’s what you should be doing, it’s not like you can get a history degree and then just decide to be a librarian.
I always thought that once the kids were all firmly established in full-day school I would go back to school to finish a nursing program. In these 8.5 years of motherhood I’ve even started the process of registration two or three times only to back out at the last minute.
Funny thing is, the kids aren’t going to full-day school and I don’t think they ever will (we homeschool through an alternative school) so that changes things a bit. I could still go back to school, there is some flexibility in the nursing field but my interests are changing.
I’ve become really interested in alternative healing therapies, mostly in the realm of mental health (think reiki, accupressure etc). So I’m thinking of spending the next year or so studying different methods and settling on what I feel is most effective and then getting whatever education I need in that field to become a practitioner. I love the idea of feeling like I can really help people feel better. Plus it gives me plenty of freedom in terms of creating my own schedule and working for myself.
Sorry for the lengthy comment, I hadn’t put any of these thoughts on paper yet!
I have a degree, but it is one that is designed to go straight into a masters and is kind of worthless without it. I got married right after graduating from college and got pregnant right away (surprise!) so I never finished up my schooling. Sigh. My youngest is 3 and I’ve been thinking about this a lot. I work part time doing marketing/communications, which I like but it doesn’t pay all that well. I also am worried about paying for grad school. We just spent the last 3 years paying off all our debt and the last thing I want to do is take out more loans. What to do?
Well, my first plan is to take a year maybe 2 off. I have spent the last 7 years so far, (2 more years to go until the youngest is in full day school) 24 hours a day 7 days a week taking care of everyone else but me. It’s MY TURN. I deserve to sit and read a book, go to the gym and not worry about being “paged”, go to yoga in the middle of the day, get my hair cut at a SALON and not that cheap chain place that allows my kids to play in the lobby. I am pretty much a single parent. My husband works 6 days a week sometimes 12 hours a day. So, I think I deserve some time to regroup.
After that, I plan to probably get a job with the school district so I have the same time off as the kids. The other thing I have considered is part time at that MEGA coffee chain with the green mermaid on the cups. Part time or full time at the local Children’s hospital. OR going back to school and getting a degree in nursing so I can work nights and be home during the day when the kids are.
My youngest is in full-day kindergarten this year. I’d already been working a few hours a week subcontracting for my sister who’s a freelance writer and so we just upped the hours when the school year started. It’s still part-time and I work at home. The hours are not as consistent as I’d like because I’m taking her overflow, but the pay is decent when there’s work and I’m reasonably good at it and I can be here for the kids when they need me, so it’s working out pretty well for every one. It remains to be seen how summer will work, though.
Mulling is one of my hobbies too! If only we could get paid for that. I am back at work, part time, doing insurance sales and I still wonder what I want to do for my ‘real’ job. For now, I have a boss that lets me work during school hours so I’m happy and grateful that I am able to be home at 3. And if I make sales I get commission so there’s the ‘possibility’ of making more than just an hourly wage, although it doesn’t always work out that way. HOWEVER, being an insurance lady is not what I want to be when I grow up, so I’m still mulling.
I’ve been mulling this over, too. I think I’m going back to grad school for teaching, but I’m not sure. There’s a lot of legwork. One unfortunate thing about this is: the graduate schools are NOT on the same schedule as my kids’ school, and b/c my kids go to private school, I would likely have a totally different schedule than them for vacations, etc. Not that I’d put two years of effort in just for the right days off, it’s just inconvenient that it’s the case, too.
OR I will find a perfectly awesome librarian job and go back to that, but it would have to be pretty perfect. We shall see.
I’m on the opposite side of the coin – I work full-time, at a job I love, in a career I’ve been building for 13+ years. We’re considering starting a family pretty soon, and I’m wondering how I’m going to structure my life/career to accomodate a little one. I know I don’t know how I will really feel until it happens, but it’s really difficult for me to imagine not working. I’m hoping that Matt and I will each be able to arrange a day working from home, and beyond that, I have no idea. Family? Daycare? Nanny? Mulling!
I work full time, so when my kids get a little bigger, THEN I’d like to quit work and be a stay at home mom for a few years.
It would be perfect for me…I could have a few hours to myself during the day, and still pick them up from school in the afternoons! : )
I’m going to keep working full-time (like PinkieBling, I have a job I love and have spent the last 12 years plus grad school building.) My husband, on the other hand, is mulling a lot. He doesn’t enjoy his job and now that the kids are in school, he’d like to do something different. What? Nursing? Habitat for Humanity? Woodworking for Etsy? Taking our kids around to their (totally hypothetical) oboe concerts and dance competitions? He doesn’t know. He is mulling.
I work basically full-time now, but I think at some time in the future, probably when F starts grade school or thereabouts, I may want to make a transition.
I might go back to school and become a therapist or I might try to do something with writing, or maybe I’ll just go to the gym and do a ton of errands before picking her up from school every day.
My ideal scenario would be to be able to drop off/pick her up from school and be the one to take her to activities and help with homework, then have family dinner some nights of the week. But this is probably a ridiculous fantasy and I’ll still be doing what I’m doing now until she’s 40.
I am planning on doing the same thing for a while (freelance producer) and then retiring with my millions once I sell a successful syndicated show (snort).
I just want to say the summer I worked in a nursing home was pretty amazing. My mom worked in elder care her entire professional life, and so I worked at her nursing home one summer and LOVED it. I was a dietary aid so I got to serve meals and hang out in a really laid back way with the residents, but I would definitely recommend volunteering at a home first to see if you like it. I spent many holidays and weekends with my mom at work before I started working there on my own, so I knew what to expect/how things worked. Seriously, it is really an amazing job. And I think someone like you would be an incredible asset to the field.
I’ve worked full-time since my oldest was about a year old, and I will keep doing it until we can afford to retire. But my career is more of a job, and my husband is the professionally important one. He’d like to change eventually and go back to teaching, but I’d need to earn more for that to work.
What I really look forward to is a life in which the kids don’t have to be met at the bus, because I would love not to have to bolt from my desk to get there in time.
On the other hand, by that time, that will mean they’re too old to ask me to put on my pajamas and come snuggle with them at bedtime.
I think about this NONSTOP, even though I have a five-month-old and no immediate plans. My first choice is to become a filthy rich middle grades novelist, writing when my kids are at school and never on the weekends, and this will come easily and painlessly and I will get an agent and editor on the first try. If THAT doesn’t work I’ve been mulling going to school for graphic design and figuring out a way to part-time it or work for myself. Maybe web design? And there’s always the boring and ho hum yet easy and extra money admin job at some nice-sounding family-oriented place of business. I DON’T KNOOOW!
You know, I never though I would end up staying home after kid 1 but I did for 3 years. I never thought I would go back to working full time when kid 2 was less than a year but I did. We are thinking about a kid 3 and frankly, I have no idea what I will do then but man, I think about this a lot. Its been great to read all the other comments.
Oh THIS topic. I try to avoid thinking about it. Before I had kids I was an elementary ESL teacher. But I only taught for three years, so it’s not like I had this long-running career. Now that I have children in my home, I cannot IMAGINE working with kids all day teaching and then coming home to my own little darlings. Luckily I am qualified to teach adults too, so something part-time, evenings or days while they’re in school could work for me once my youngest is in school. So much to think about… Good luck with your mulling!
Karen L- It turns out I haaaaate being edited. Hate it. Which is why blogging is perfect for me (I can do it exactly my way, all the time!), but I’m not sure writing would work.
Would you want to go back to pharmacy tech-ing? I have a different career now (auditing) that I like, but if being a pharmacy tech paid better I’d definitely still be doing it. When I’m mulling things, I fantasize about quitting my full-time job and working a couple days a week in a pharmacy.
My own life plans were derailed–I was a SAHM and went back to work when my husband lost his job. Then he got a job at the school where my kids attended, and I can tell you that it worked out BEAUTIFULLY. His being on the kids’ schedule and being available to take them to doctor and dentist appointments has been a God-send, truly. He very nearly took a job last year that would have had him working 9-hour days and commuting another 1-1/2 hours, and with my own demanding job there is NO WAY we could have made that work without hiring a nanny. Which was not in the budget, so…he didn’t take the job.
Swistle, O yes, that would drive me up the wall, too. I never thought of that.
I’ve found that even in HS, the kids need a parent around in the afternoons or things can quickly get out of control. So, I’ve worked jobs where I was able to be home after school, etc. Right now I am walking dogs from 11-3 and before that I was a legal assistant (for 7 years) from 9-1 and before that I worked at the local gym and got membership included. I’ve also worked weekends/evenings for the airlines. I have a degree in Finance but have never used it. I had my first in college and stayed home until my youngest went to full-time kindergarten (she’s 14 now)
Jessica- I would LOVE to tech again—but only if I didn’t have to work at the register. I liked everything about the job except for that.
Can you be a pharmacy tech in a hospital? No customer service involved!
Linda- That would be my ideal, probably—but there isn’t one in reasonable commuting distance.
Too bad. I love our pharmacy techs and they all seem to like their jobs. Maybe you should consider a move to where I live . . . ? :)
I’m so far away from this being my reality that it’s kind of a bummer. But I’ll still play!
I imagine that when my hypothetical kids are older I’ll work as an NP in a clinic or something and I’ll be able to take more volunteer trips like the 0peration Rainb0w mission to El Salvador I went on. I’m kind of sad I won’t be able to go on one this year sine I’m just starting out at my job.
I’m still a long way away from this point, since my kids aren’t even in school yet, but it’s something that I think about. I currently teach one section of sociology online for a private university, which is about a 10-hour weekly commitment. I’ve considered adding another section when my kids are older or possibly being an in-person adjunct somewhere else, but it would depend on where we live at the time.
Wow – I usually hate the word ‘mulling’ but you all make it look good. :) Also, for a minute I thought you said there might be ‘shit issues’ rather than ‘shift’ working at the nursing home, so *snort*. I have a Masters in Comparative Literature, so, you know, I’m uniquely qualified for sweet fuck all. I’m working towards my library tech diploma. I work in the school library one day a week, and I really like it. And let me reassure whoever that was that even though I don’t meet my kids at the bus any more, they still want to snuggle in pajamas at night.
Having had my CNA license and working in a nursing home for a short time, I feel compelled to tell you that it’s a pretty awful job ;) You’re at the bottom of the totem pole, which means the staff don’t like you and give you the worst jobs to do, and you’re generally understaffed so you don’t have a chance to really connect with the elderly and help them in a substantial way. You’re pretty much trying to change people’s diapers/clothes/bedding, get them fed, and then moving on to the next person and then reversing the process to get everyone to bed. I found it TERRIBLY depressing to see how people were treated in nursing homes, and to be so helpless to provide any actual CARING because there just wasn’t any time! Maybe the nursing homes near you would be better or you’d really love the work anyhow, but I felt compelled to say something ;)
Carolyn- Hm. I suspect that would be okay with me: that sounds similar to how it was in the infant room of the daycare I worked at, and I enjoyed the feeling of processing people’s needs. It was so satisfying to take a crying, stinky, hungry baby and change it into a peaceful, clean, fed baby!
The part that gives me pause is that the staff wouldn’t like me. Why don’t they like the CNAs? I’d think they’d love the people who did the dirty work!
I’d like to take a nap.
I plan to substitute teach at a select number of schools (where my kids go and where I have colleagues who still teach and can help me out). If I can do this 2-3 days a week, I will earn money, still be on the kids’ schedule, and still have time to freelance write, which I also hope to continue.
I thought we were supposed to have this “What do I want to be when I grow up” business sorted out by now?
I used to think when they all were in school, I’d go back to work in IT but like so many other things with this job, It doesn’t make sense anymore. I don’t like the idea that I am staying home through the shit years, just to race around once they are in school and put them in after and before care so I can work. I was older when I started, so I worked for a lot of years before I had kids. I plan on sending my kids to Catholic school, so it’s my goal to make enough money to cover tuition. I waitress now, so I might do that at lunch, or get an office job that I could do during school hours.
Well, I’m working full time right now with an hour-long commute one way. I’m not thrilled with it, what with a 3-year-old and new baby, but my kids are in a great home daycare (run by my SIL, the only person in the world I trust more than myself to do right by them) and my mom loves spending time with them when I work late or need time to myself.
It may only change slightly once they are in school. Because of my and my husband’s long hours, we may have to rely on Grandma to do school dropoffs and pickups. The part that worries me is that they will end up participating in extra activities and I won’t be able to be as involved as I’d like or they would need me to be.
I would like to possibly find a less demanding job, ideally still in my field because I really do like the work, closer to home, even if it means less pay. Unfortunately, living in such a rural area, those jobs aren’t all that common.
I haven’t read all the comments, but Swistle, you’re a writer! Couldn’t your plan include writing in some format? I’m putting in work now on my blog (networking, posting when I can) so hopefully when my youngest (21 months) is in school, it can be my part-time income. I just think with my four kids, I don’t know how it would work for me to be working outside the home. (Of course, it could work for other families.)
I spend a lot of time around elderly people because of one thing and another, and I gotta say–I really like old people. I can see you starting out as a nursing assistant and then if you liked it, going on to get some kind of gerontology nursing degree or something. Old people rock!
I’ve been mulling this for a while now too. Hub is self-employed, so the biggest perk of my job is health insurance (even though we have expensive coverage/deductibles it’s way better than what we could get on our own.) Hub is at a point with his business where it is either going to really take off or…we don’t know.
I like my job, generally, and I like the flexibility of being home. But I might want to be a midwife or a doula some day. I’d really like to help women have babies. So maybe, once Liv is out of daycare I can start to explore that.
Still thinking about this topic a day later. I often wish (at this point) that I had the foresight as a young 20 year old to think that I might one day want a job with enough flexibility to be home with my kids one or two days a week. I often say I should have been a dentist, a Physician’s Assistant, pilates instructor, or any of the (seemingly) other numerous professions where I could have more flexibility and still do something I enjoy. I don’t think anyone ever brought this up to young-me as something to think about, nor am I sure I would have listened to them. Man, do I wish I had.
I intend to be a bestselling author. Although I imagine that I would have to do something other than check my email compulsively all day in order to do that.
I started thinking about it right when I quit my job to stay at home with my daughter when she was born and it took me almost two years to realize that “healthcare” was too broad so I eventually narrowed it down to nursing. I will be graduating in May and am thrilled. I can say this for nursing – there are so many different paths to take, so many opportunities I think it would be good for anyone, especially if you want to start off as a CNA or personal care assistant. A nursing home MAY even pay for your education if you wanted to further your career and become a licensed nurse. Once you had your license, then you could be a school nurse, combining your two mulling options!
Remember a few years ago you thought forensic accounting
sounded fun and I shuddered?
If you did something like that, then it’s working from home!
I like the school idea too. We already know you’re good at that.
(:-D
My husband keeps pushing me to find writing/editing work I can do from home, but I’m beginning to worry that I HAVE to have adult interaction to keep me pumped up and motivated to do so. I know I’d be good at it and might even love it, but I’m daunted with how-the-heck-do-I-even-get-started????
(And I just sort of answered this question on the meme on my blog!)
I would love to go back to school to get my master’s and get back into teaching, but we can’t afford it.
I still play with the idea of becoming a lactation consultant, but again: lack of funds for training.
Right now ONE possible option is to work part-time–IF I can find a job. I have worked many part-time temp jobs in the last few years, and it seems to fill the adult-interaction void but also the be-home-while-the-kids-are issue rather well.
Of course, now I’ve got a new baby thrown into the mix to consider….. *sigh*
I have no idea. At what age are you supposed to figure out what you want to be when you grow up? & as long as money isn’t an issue, can I just be a SAHM forever? My cats and dogs need me too. Just sayin’.
Hmm, a day later and I am still thinking about this post. I’ve gone and read the comments a couple of times as well. Interesting stuff.
For me, it has been a journey. I’ve been a SAHM now for 16 years- my kids are 16, 13 and 10. Before that, I was a special ed teacher.
When I had my daughter 16 years ago, I really struggled with staying home. I felt like I wasn’t “doing anything” although I was busy a good bit of the time. I felt like I should be contributing something financially etc. So I took little jobs here and there over the years: child care in a fitness club, part time nanny, substitute teacher.
However it was hard, with my husband being a lawyer and his long work hours and unpredictable schedule. I often felt resentful, as the stuff that needed to be done at home still needed doing, but now I had less time in which to do it. So the time that was lost? Any free time (or “me” time) that I would have had. Kid gets sick? Me. You get the drift.
I would come home from having worked part time and I would be tired. My kids wouldn’t get the best of me, my husband wouldn’t get the best of me, the house looked like shit. And I was angry about it all because the little bit of money I was making just wasn’t equal to the amount of stress it brought to the household, you know?
No one made me feel that way; no one asked me to go get part time jobs. I put that on myself because I felt like it was important that I do something “of value” and I was defining that value as contributing financially to the household.
Finally, a couple of years ago (because I am apparently a SHOCKINGLY slow learner!) I realized that I don’t have to work at a job to be a contributor. Would the money be nice? Yes, but it comes at its own expense. When I was able to let that self-imposed pressure go, I was able to actually enjoy being home and making all the things that make my family work well, work even better.
Do I still get pissy sometimes? Absolutely. Bad days? More often than rarely. But I had all those things at any job I’ve ever held, and this is no different.
In two years my oldest will be heading off to college and the others will soon be following, before I know what hit me. During this season, I’m finding new hobbies, preparing to take a few classes and just living my life with a peace I didn’t have before.
So, if you WANT to work, you absolutely should. Be prepared for some stress that comes with it because even kids in school get sick, have field trips and class parties and parent conferences etc etc etc. And if you want to take time for you, consider that as well.
Just my two cents!
I have been at home for nearly four years, but I used to be a law professor. We are moving across the country and there are a few schools I could possibly teach at on a part time basis. I loved teaching. But….I’ve really gotten into interior design in the last two years and am wondering if I should pursue that. Or just keep it a hobby? I can’t decide.
I recently went back to school – I have one semester left of community college and then however long left of a university/credential program – after 11 years of working in HR on accident. I’ve always wanted to teach English so I’m going for it. I was able to get a decent severance from my work (we were shutting down and laying people off anyway, in shifts) and that combined with unemployment should last us about two years. I’m going to try to cram it all in if I can, so I can go straight to a teaching job and never have to do an accidental oops-I-just-spent-a-decade-doing-something-I-don’t-care-about-at-all job again. I like your ideas and think you would do them splendidly, and if it doesn’t work out, who cares? Try something different. That’s what I’m planning. I am looking forward to teaching more than anything I’ve ever looked forward to, besides kids and my marriage, and I can’t wait to get started. But if it doesn’t work out after 5 or 10 years and I decide to do something else with my English degree, that’s fine too! I will cross that bridge when I come to it. (this is all very zen of me – I’ve come a long way in the last decade, so that job has done *some* good for me)
I’ve been reading here for the past couple months and this is my first comment. I’m obsessed with this topic.
I lost my part-time teacher/administrator for a GED/parenting/early childhood education program last summer, and have been home with my 2 kids ever since, doing in-home childcare. Originally I planned to do this for a couple years, then either go back to teaching or sub in pre-K classrooms until I got hired somewhere. Recently I’m considering homeschooling, which means I have to figure out how to make enough money to make ends meet. It’s driving me crazy that I don’t have a plan. I don’t care if I stick to plans, but I do like to HAVE one. So I’m mulling too, although the fact that it’s 1am and I just got out of bed because I can’t sleep for thinking about this very topic (and then stumbled on this post–what a coincidence!) means my mulling is much closer to obsessing. I enjoyed reading everyone else’s comments!
My kids are 12, 10 and 7. When the now 7 year old was born, we thought I would get some sort of part-time job when he went to Kindergarten or maybe when he was in first grade. That would have been last year or this year.
Then it turned our our 10 year old is on the autism spectrum and I have trouble believing she will NOT need me to be home after school . . . ever. (That’s overly pessimistic, but she really has trouble self-starting with homework and when she get stuck she won’t move onto a different question.)
Last year I volunteered in teh school library and toyed with the idea of going back to school to be a media specialist.
This year, we became foster parents, and now the whole question is back on the “what do I want to do someday?” list, but with less of a sense that “someday” will ever happen.
I haven’t thought of this before. Maybe I’m still enjoying being a stay at home mom. Finishing school would be a great idea. I will put that on my list. Then, of course need to have a job, probably still on the same line of work that I used to do. And lastly, I want to travel with hubby, which we haven’t done for the longest time since the kids came. :-)
I think about this all the time. I was a teacher before I had kids, and I am pretty sure I don’t want to go back to that. The hours were insane (I taught HS English, so tons of reading and grading), and everyone I know who is a teacher (a lot of people) is intensely unhappy–more and more so as time goes by.
On one hand, I don’t want to go back to work once my kids are in school. I saw as a HS teacher how much HS kids still needed supervision and support at home. If I do go back to work, I’d like it to be very much a part time thing so I can still be around when the kids get home. Also, if my husband’s career continues on its current path, I think having one (at least mostly) stay-at-home parent will be beneficial. He works a lot of hours, frequently has to stay late, sometimes has to travel, etc. However he loves his job, and he makes enough money that my income isn’t necessary (not that we have scads of money, but we’re comfortable in our modest lifestyle).
On the other hand, I see my mother-in-law having to return to work in the last couple of years after she sent her last kid off to college. She stayed home for nearly 30 years, raised 5 very successful children, and now has no experience to put on a resume that an employer cares about. She needs to work at this point, as my FIL’s income has decreased, and she just hates her jobs that she’s had over the past 4 years or so. I don’t want to count on my husband’s income always being enough for us, because who knows when that might change unexpectedly, and I would hate to find myself in her position 20 years from now.
What I would really like to do is become a doula or maybe even a midwife, but both of those require being available to clients at all hours of the day and night, and they can require being gone for 24 hours or more at a time. Seeing as how my husband works a lot, without a lot of job flexibility, and we live far away from our families, I have a hard time envisioning that working well for me until my kids are much, much older (mine are still little, so I have time before this would even be a possibility).
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Dingbat me posted a comment on the wrong blog entry. And it was a post that if I had looked carefully, I wouldn’t have posted it anyway. ugh.