daughter ripping mommy’s heart out

Tags

daughter ripping mommy's heart out, Working Mom, working mom guilt

When we were at Avery’s preschool graduation, we saw posters that all the kids had created. Titled “All About…”, they outlined all the favorites of each child so we could get to know them a little bit better.

This was Avery’s. I’ll wait until you get to the bottom right corner.

I know, right? As a working mom, I’m both thrilled and devastated that her biggest wish is for the sun to go down so she can be with her family. The other kids in her class wrote some silly answer about how they wanted to be a squirrel or get a dog or eat a sucker. Avery’s greatest wish is to be with us. Or perhaps get some sleep.

I work because I love it. I love the thrill of working with a team to figure out a solution to a challenge. I love having my own little corner of the world separate from my family in which I thrive. And I’m good at it. Most of the time. I guess.

But I’m not gonna lie. It stung to see that Avery wishes that the sun would go down so she can see us {and sleep…}. Granted, I asked her tonight what her greatest wish was and she said to have ice cream. So I’m not going to make any major life decisions based on a poster she made at school last week. But it emphasizes the constant battle working moms have. It’s not a one time decision to come back to work after having a baby. It’s a frequent rationalization.

For now, I choose to recognize that Avery cherishes the time we spend together as a family at the end of each day {and sleeping}. I do too. It’s also MY favorite time of the day. Being with my family, not sleeping. But I really love that, too.