It is a common misconception that women who stay at home with their children are considered just a stay-at-home mom.  However, many people have no idea what it is like to take care of children all day long.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade it for the world but it is not the easiest job.  Being a mother of two, a boy of thirteen and a girl of eleven, I can honestly attest to the hard work of motherhood.  Not only am I a mother, I am an office coordinator for a health care group and I work 40 or more hours a week.  However, it didn’t start out that way.

I worked for the same health care group before I even became a mother.  Once I had my children, only two years apart, I had to leave my job.  Note, my husband also worked full time for the government as a naval veteran and still does.  I became a stay at home mother; from the time I had my son until my daughter started kindergarten seven years later.  I, all of the sudden, took on the role of SuperMom, being a mother, a friend, a therapist, a taxi-driver, a doctor, and many more professions in only a few years.

It wasn’t until I went back to work that I realized how hard it would be to juggle work and a family.  I now had so many more responsibilities, but I was up for the challenge.  I started to get into a daily and even weekly routine that has helped me not only manage my professional and parenting life, but also that has helped me grow as a person.

Routine is key.  I would wake up and get the kids, as well as myself, ready for the day then take the kids to school and get to work on time. After school, my husband picks the kids up while I go home and start dinner. Before dinner is ready I help the kids with homework and then sit down to have dinner as a family, which is a great way to spend time together. Cleaning up after dinner and making lunches for the next day of school are not my favorite things to do, but they still need to get done. Finally, I get the kids ready for bed and then I am able to relax and have a glass of wine with my husband.  All of that, in different variations of course, helped me to run and perfect my day as best as I can.

Of course, there will always be slight problems or flaws to the plan but you learn to deal with them.  Such as a problem at work, for example, getting stuck late at the office.  Problems that the kids are going to have will take up a lot of time too, whether it is an issue with bullies or the most recent problem for my son, acne.  It’s all in a day’s work and it can all be taken in stride.

At first, mixing a professional life in with the duties of being a mother is always going to be hard, but in the end, it is what you make of it.  I’ve learned to handle everything as it comes, while looking ahead at the big picture, but still taking life day by day.  I am enjoying being a working mother, just as much as I enjoyed being a stay at home mother.