I love the blog Rants From Mommyland. It has to be my absolute favorite. I started reading it (Thank you Jen Hatmaker for mentioning it in YOUR blog), and it made me laugh, and finally helped me to find the funny in this day to day mom stuff. They have a series called, "The Domestic Enemies", and they have all kinds of different types of moms represented, Military moms, single moms, premie moms, all kinds.I read the "Domestic Enemies of the mom of multiples, and giggled a lot, because as a mom of twins, they nailed on the head. I read the "Domestic Enemies of the mom of a Large Family", and having four kids, again, nailed it. But I believe my situation has it's own set of challenges. I felt a little left out, because they did not have one that particularly catered to my situation. I am a stay at home mom who also happens to run a home daycare. In and of itself, SAHM's have a tough life. I don't care how many kids you have. Big or small families, each have it's own set of personal challenges. So I give you, "Domestic Enemies of the Home Daycare Mom"
1. School functions:
"Class party, volunteers needed"
"Volunteers needed for reading"
Yeah, like me walking in with 5 toddlers in tow is going to go over well. I can see it now, 'Ok Johnny, read the first word to me. Hold on a second, no no, don't pull the pictures off of the walls Little Man, sit down. Quit pouring your juice on your sister's head. Ok Johnny let's... wait a minute I need to change this toddler here. He pooped." The same would go with class parties. Not only would you have 25 school age kids going nuts with the sugar rush from the millions of cupcakes and sugary treats that everyone just has to send in for parties (what is wrong with fruit people? Really? Yes, I am THAT mom. Suck it.), but then I would have 5 sugared up LOUD toddlers running, screeching, tearing pictures off the walls, and dumping anything off of shelves that they could get their hands on.
2. Doctor appointments:Yes I understand the importance of doctor appointments for well child check ups. But really doctors offices? Can we not offer some after hours appointments at least one or two days a week? No parent in their right mind is going to want me to take their kids into that petri dish just so Little Man can get the once over, and a "come back in a couple of months for his flu shot." Lord knows what kind of scurvy my kids would pick up when I am outnumbered 5 to 1, and can't be constantly on point to keep Thumbellina and toddler #2 from licking the floor.
3. Homework.
As I have mentioned before, my oldest son has ADHD. So his medicine is good for about 10 hours. He takes it upon waking, which is about 7am, and then is good for school all day. After which he gets saddled with at least an hour's worth of homework per night which also requires the desired focus that the medicine gives him. However, when he gets home, we are on a ticking time bomb. Those meds wear off at about 6pm, and he doesn't get home until 4. So homework HAS to be done right after he gets home, or we have no focus. And trust me, trying to get my ADHD kid to do homework off meds is not the happy fun time you would think it is. Now, he mostly can do these things by himself, and then I just check it for mistakes later, but sometimes, and all too often for my taste, he needs help. Try focusing on helping him with math that I wasn't able to do when I was in 5th grade, let alone with 5 toddlers running around making noise at 50 decibels, for a child that doesn't want to do this in the first place and just wants to run off to play Minecraft all night. I can't tell you how tempting it is to just say, "Go build your castle honey, math is overrated anyway."
4. Teacher Work Days
I decided before I started doing my home daycare, that I would only watch teacher's kids. This way, when my son is off of school, we have the day off together. This works awesome for summers, holidays and spring break. This does NOT work out for days that teachers have to work too. Not only do I have to run my daycare, but then I have the regular responsibilities of being a mom to a 10 year old too, with him running in and out of the house during nap, (SLAMMING THE FREAKING DOOR), and wanting sleepovers! "I am sorry that I need to sleep tonight and do not want to feel like I need to make pancakes for you and your friends in the morning because you don't have school tomorrow. I need to make money so you can have shoes." But does the 10 year old appreciate this? Hells to the no he doesn't.
Do you know who takes over for me when I am sick? Nobody. So when I get sick, it not only affects my job, it affects the job of the people I work for, and all of the people they work for! So when I am sick enough to call off, we are talking I am on death's door. This is also true for when my kids are sick. So if they just have little colds, I have to deal with the regular day to day stuff, and my poor little whiney sick child.
So there you have it. I often dream about a job where I get regular breaks, and don't have to wait to pee until they are all strapped into a high chairs so that they cannot kill themselves because I am not in the room with them, and can go for at least half a day without someone wiping their nose on my shirt, or drooling on my shoulder, and can have personal time off WITH pay and paid vacations.....wait, what was my point?
No comments:
Post a Comment