Finding Work and Life Balance While A Mother

I am a mother of four: three boys and a girl. I am also a full-time school teacher and a wife. To tell you that balancing motherhood, wifehood and professional working life is hard would be an understatement. It takes tremendous effort and love of self, family, and what one does to muster the energy to get things done. For me, that is not the only thing that helps me keep a balance between work and life.

Having a husband who works and understands how tired one can be after work helps me as well. He helps a lot with the children and makes sure our household is functional. I could not do this without him, honestly speaking. Parenting with my husband makes things manageable.

There are days, especially when the kids have their karate practice, that I find myself asking why I signed them up for this. I mean, I get off work and with traffic, barely make it home on time for us to hit the road again for karate. On such days, after an hour of karate, we head home for homework and snacks. While they do their homework, I prepare dinner and grade papers or other tasks. After dinner, it's on to homework again or a little TV time for the kids. I currently teach adult Ed two nights a week so after dinner away I go.

Some nights, I am not able to see the kids eat dinner because we are running late. My husband feeds them on such days. It is hard, but we get things done when we work as a team.

It was hard at first, because I would feel guilty that I'm not there to see the children eat, to tuck them in to sleep. It is especially hard the next morning when my four year old asks me why I'm going again to work. It breaks my heart to have to explain to him what work means. But he is slowly getting the hang of it.

As my children get older, I find it even more difficult because they are showing interests in various things and it is going to be interesting to see how we take the boys to their own things and the girl to her thing. But do I love it all? You bet!