Stay-at-home moms going back to work

Summer reminds me how much I love being a stay at home mom. I am so fortunate and blessed to have been able to be with my little girls since they were born. I remember telling my boss, the Mayor of Fort Myers, I was “retiring” when my first daughter was born. It was hard because I loved working for the Mayor as his public relations director, but I knew being at home with my kids while they were growing up was something I wanted to do. My husband agreed. We rearranged our lives and careers, so I could stay at home.

For almost eight years now, I have been a stay-at-home mom with my two little girls.  Now that they are both in elementary school it’s time for me to go back to work. As I start looking at jobs again, it is a little scary trying to find one when there aren’t many jobs out there.

I was fortunate that I was able to fulfill my career “dream” job before having kids.  In college I majored in broadcast journalism and soon after college became a television news reporter. Now as I look for jobs, I am not focusing on a television news reporter job, but any kind of job in the journalism field.  

The problem is, my heart really hasn’t been in finding a job. I’ve done my “dream” job and I love being at home with my kids. When they are in school, I volunteer at school, help out in the classroom, eat lunch with my kids. When I work full-time, I know I am going to miss things that my kids have at school. What if my child gets sick? How am I going to pick my kids up from school? Who will take them to school? All these questions are in my head as I look for a job.

I am sure working moms know this all too well. How do you do it? I know it must be hard. I have quite a few friends that work full-time and they are pretty exhausted by the end of the day. They tell me they miss their kids. Some of my friends work long hours and don’t see their kids, but maybe a few minutes before their kids go to bed.  

What’s the secret to having a career and being a great mom? As I get back into the working field, I want to do both. Hopefully that job is out there for me.

When it comes down to it, as mom’s we have to do the best we can, whether we stay at home or work. What is important is we take care of our kids and make sure they know we love them. We have to do what’s best for our family.