It Takes a Village (Part 1)

It takes a village...

An old cliche, but a true one. I continued to work after the kids were born; it was never a question in my mind that I would. For some moms (and dads!), I know, it's a huge question and a source of much guilt. For me, I wanted to continue my profession (I'd worked hard to establish it), while also making plenty of time to raise my kids. At first, the husband worked form home, and we split shifts for the most part (with me working less hours than I had pre-kids), while depending on his aunt for the occasional day of babysitting. This soon grew to her taking the kids on all of my (reduced) days of work, and the husband working an in-office job.

Ok, three people raising these kids. No problem, that's not much.

Then, when Baby Girl was in preschool (and Eldest in elementary school full time), I had an opportunity for a temporary full-time university teaching position drop into my lap. It was only for an academic year, but it got me out of the office, doing something different. I still spent some hours at the practice, but needed to make time to prepare and teach 12 credit hours of classes each semester.

Let the fun begin!!

How do you get one kid on and off the bus for a full day of school, while ensuring that the other gets driven to and picked up from preschool three afternoons a week, and babysat the remainder of the week?

I ended up with a calendar I created: time of day down the side (7am-8pm, every 15min got a slot), day of the week across the top... and four columns under each day, for various members of the team. It took a legal-size sheet to print it out; it was a complicated dance of who would be where at what time, and which adult was in charge of which kid at each time. Including the "backup plan" for weeks the husband was travelling for work and I was on my own.

It took us two parents, his aunt, his brother, and two neighbor families willing to exchange babysitting(that's eight adults!) for us to manage this schedule, for a couple kids. It takes a village!

A year later, being back to part-time teaching and the usual part-time hours at the practice, I wonder how in the hell I made it all happen last year. I think I may have lost my mind for a while in there. Balance work and family? No such thing. It's all about getting through.