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| courtesy of always-summersanders.blogspot.com |
I am a mother. My daughter is in Kindergarten. Her school day ends at 2:50p.m. I am a teacher. I can officially leave work at 3:15pm. I have made the decision to not send my daughter to my school.
Today on her second day of school I left school at 3p.m.
I was in my car at 3:03 p.m.
I arrived at her school at 3:24pm.
As I was pulling up I saw the Vice Principal. She was lifting my daughter. As I walked up, the Vice Principal pointed to me. Channing came running full steam ahead! She exploded into my arms.
Here are her first words to me...
"Mummy, it took you ages to get here. I was the last one there. All of my friends are gone!'
I should be in the school yard when my daughter walks out of her classroom!
As a working mother I am unable to get to Channing's school to pick her up on time. I am officially the mother whose child is the last to be picked up. The school yard was not empty but clearly she was the last Kindergarten student.
I am devastated. My best was not good enough!
What do I do? Tomorrow I will try to leave a few minutes earlier and defy school policy.
Motherhood has to come before career!
Until I pick up again,
Tiffany
P.S.
Is there anyone out there looking for a business venture? I think it would be a great idea to have a school pick up bus service that caters to Grade Two and below. A bus service with a friendly staff, booster or toddler seats, snacks, screens for kids to watch movies as the sit in traffic ... you get the picture. I would pay top dollar tonight.
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| courtesy of www.jeanknowscars.com |
There are bus services but for older kids. I and I am sure other parents of toddlers are in need of another type of bus service.
Think about people. If you know a taxi cab driver who is not satisfied, sell this idea. It is so doable on our little island town.
5 comments:
Ooohhhh Tiffany!!
This one was for me! I don't do school pick ups yet, but experience the joy of coming home from work to my son. When I get home 10 minutes later than usual, the look on his face (cause he's not talking yet) tells me that he was worried I wasn't coming home. The statement that you made "Motherhood has to come before career" is a clear answer to a decision that I've been struggling with since Thursiday night. I prayed asking God to make the answer so very clear that I would know it was for me...as always He answered my prayer. Giiirrll, please keep writing, this blog is IT!!
Morning Kesh,
Thank you for your comment and support.
I am happy that my words have brought you clarity. God used me to help you!
I will continue to write for me and just as importantly, all the other women who reads this blog.
Working mom guilt is a serious thing. Our children deserve our very best. Yesterday I gave my best effort and my daughter was disappointed. Sighhhhhhhhhh
There has to be a better way!
Tiffany
Yesssssssssssssssssss Sistergirl! Working mom guilt is no joke! For me, it's mother before career most definitely!!!!!!! I feel guiltier being late for my kids than I do when I’m late for work. Is that crazy or what?!
I spent years in college obtaining two Bachelors and a Masters degree. I was fresh out of graduate school when I got pregnant. I always saw myself as this career driven individual and couldn’t wait to take on the workforce that is until my daughters were born!!!!!!! All of that changed instantly! Those lil gals changed my whole outlook on life. I’m working now and everyone at work knows me as the 3 o’clock Cinderella. When the clock strikes quarter to 3 don’t look for me!!!! Honestly I drop WHATEVER I’m doing and I’m out the door on a mad dash. More often than not, at 2:45pm I’m flying down the highway to pick up my daughters. I have to say jus’ seeing their little faces light up the minute they spot me is the best feeling in the world. Their excited smiles are infectious! No matter what kind of day I’m having, those little smiles seem to make everything else disappear. They can’t wait to give me the 4-11 on their day (and this is the highlight of mine). On the extraordinary occasion in which I feel I’m going to be as little as 15 minutes late, I call their teachers cell phone and ask her to please let my little ones know that mommy will be a few minutes late and that they have the green light to play in the designated area as discussed in our contingency plan. My sister says that I’m obsessed and I think that I’m the only one with daughters :S. I guess I do it to prepare them mentally in an effort to avoid them feeling abandoned (if that makes sense lol). So Tiff, I know you felt bad because I felt bad reading little Channing’s response. At their age these little instances are very significant. My best friend always talks about the day she was left in the school yard and we are in our 30’s now!!!!!! lol. Boy being a career mom is so a precarious balancing act! The stereotypical successful businesswoman is the woman that doesn’t have the emergencies with the kids or school runs and can devote endless hours to the success of the company. For most of us that want to succeed at both, the ramifications of making one wrong step can really hurt us either in our careers or our children’s confidence, self-esteem etc. There was a point in my career where I was asked to travel for the company for months on end to places like China the Dubia etc and also work functions that would take me away from my daughters for what seemed like endless days. I regretfully declined majority of these trips. Some people say I’m insane and I passed up so many opportunities but I’m okay with that. I have a more important job right now and I love it. Damn, I really could use an unburned bra right about now!!!
Tiff, the Kids Taxi is a great idea providing you trust the driver etc. As simple as this may seem to some people this is a tough one for us, especially those of us that do not trust any and everyone to collect our eggs from school…. but we always figure something out. That’s just what we do. *smile.
Anonymous,
Thank you for your comment and support.
I read your entire comment nodding my head in agreement.
I have a meeting after work today. Thank goodness my mother-in-law has agreed to pick up Channing every Wednesday (standard meeting day). At least I know that today she will see a smiling face as soon as she exits her classroom. At least today she can tell her friends goodbye.
As for tomorrow, I will be leaving work as soon as I dismiss my last class instead of when the bell rings.
A mother has to do what a mother has to do!
Tiffany
I know that's right!!!! A mom has to do what a mom has to do lol!
...and able grand parents are blessings!!! *smile.
But don't beat yourself up, we all have those moments when we feel like our best jus' wasn't good enough.That's what makes you an awesome mom.
I remember when my daughters had Valentine's Day play and I was so excited to see them. We had practiced our parts for weeks! On my way to the play I got pulled over for tints and the police was taking soooooo long to write the stupid ticket. I got so annoyed I screamed at the him to hurry his a** up. Of course you know, he took even longer and threatened to give me another ticket for misconduct. I realized that so much time had passed I probably missed the whole thing. Tell me why my grown behind started to cry. I had missed my kids very first debute. I jus' knew their little eyes were searching the crowd for me. smt. Sure enough they were disappointed and I had to explain why mommy wasn't there. Everyone else's moms were there but theirs wasn't. Guess what a few years later they don't remember that. So I'm sure Channing won't even remember either.... too many other good things to remember!
By the way, l love those names (Chase & Channing). Cute!
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