Friday 12 December 2014

Diary of a Working Mom

I went to bed last night thinking about some important work to be done in office today, but the wake-up call came with the warm body of my little daughter sleeping next to me. As I realize that she is unwell and will need me by her side for the day, several thoughts start crossing my mind on how I could be with the little one and at the same time get the work waiting for me done.

With several phone calls and hours spent on the laptop, I do manage to get the work done while attending to my daughter and making a visit to the doctor in parallel. While I somehow managed to juggle both responsibilities, it wasn’t without going through the guilt of not being able to give my 100% to my work and also of not being able to give 100% of the time to the little one.

Though this sounds like a one-off instance, a working mom goes through such juggling day in and day out. Sometimes there is a work meeting which clashes with an open house in school, or there is a day when your little one wants you to stay back, just because she wants to.

And these situations are not necessarily forced but often out of choice; for instance, we ourselves want to be present on every important occasion in school, or be involved in their home-work and other activities, or be with them when they are unwell though there may be a family member available to attend to the same.

There are some women who decide one way or the other in the very beginning and either give up work for family responsibilties or refrain from motherhood in order to focus on their careers but there are a vast majority of us who are playing the balancing act every day. And while we do make a decision to choose one over the other depending on the situation, it is often laden with guilt for what was sacrificed.

But when I sit back and think today, I realize that instead of feeling guilty about what was not done as expected, shouldn’t we be happy with ourselves for being able to manage both ends successfully? For WE made this choice of balancing between both worlds whether it was for a financial need or otherwise; And WE try our best to be available to our kids when they need and on every important occasion in their life; WE make our best effort to ensure that time spent with kids is quality time; WE often give up opportunities at work and take a back seat in our careers so we can balance our family lives with it; And yes, WE do contribute our bit to the family finances as well.  

Also what we don’t realize is that in this process we also maintain our individuality and in turn also set an example for our kids. So we are teaching our daughters to grow to be independent, and teaching our sons to respect individuality of women as they grow.


Hey, we’re doing a good job after all! So let’s enjoy this journey and continue to deal with each day as it comes!!