Struggles of a Working Mom

To me, the hardest part about being a mom is having to leave my little guy every day to go to work. It is an internal battle. I have a great job, but I also have a great baby. How can you balance the two?

There are ways. Millions of women do it every day. Some days are just harder than others. I am currently experiencing the harder days. I have been an emotional mess this week as I gear up to go back to school.

This brings back the all too familiar feelings I had when my maternity leave came to an end. It took weeks before I stopped crying on my way to work after dropping him off every morning. Day by day, week by week, it got a smidge better. A smidge.

One of the greatest parts about being an educator is the extra time off I get to spend with him. I do not take that for granted for one minute, but it makes it that much harder to leave him when it is time for me to go back.

This summer I have loved waking up to the sound of G talking to himself in his crib, morning play dates in the living room, snuggling with him as he drinks his bottle, watching him grow and explore new things every single day, the list goes on and one.

This is the hard part. Those days are over with. For now. I just don't want to miss one thing. I want to see every smile, and giggle, and be there to comfort him when he is upset, and experience all of the things I have been blessed to do all summer.

But, I also know that I have a classroom full of kids that need me every day. They depend on me to be there every day for them.

And I will be. And I will be the best I can be while I am Mrs. Tucker. I will devote my time and attention entirely on my students while I am Mrs. Tucker. It won't always be easy to not wonder about my son. Wonder what he is doing. Wonder what he is learning at that moment. But I can and will do it.

And I will be the best I can be when I am mom. I will devote my time and attention entirely on my son and my husband when I am mom. It won't always be easy, because i will be thinking about my lessons for the next day, what I can be doing differently to challenge my students, what I can be doing to be a better teacher. But I can and will do it.

And it all starts tomorrow. Whoo....I think I can, I think I can.

I've got my tissues ready.