Expectations & Realities of a WAHM
When I quit my face-to-face teaching job to stay home and solely teach online, I just knew that things around this house were going to change. With all the extra time I’d have at home, certainly things would be cleaner, straighter, nicer. Even though I’d have a new baby, he’d sleep. There’d be plenty of time to cook his homemade food, vacuum the floors, and make dinner for Aaron and Miss Sassy Pants.
Wrong.
Working at home while tending to my children has actually taken more time than any regular face-to-face job that I’ve ever had. Even teaching 90 students (or more) at the high school was completely different from teaching 50 online while trying to follow behind toddlers who think they are human tornadoes.
Case in point 1: look at my bedroom. I just cleaned this last week. It was almost sparkling and beautiful. The bed was made. The clothes were put away. But today? Today the boys thought that emptying my magazine rack made sense. And they had to rip things. And yes, you do see a medical grade scale and a sitz bath in the middle of my bedroom floor. Because that. makes. sense.
Case in point number 2: look at my kitchen. My mom spent a week here with me after my surgery to remove my unicorn horn. She cleaned my kitchen and organized it. I went to bed every night feeling almost refreshed because my kitchen was ready for me the next morning. Not anymore. It has literally exploded.
These are my realities. But I love that quote about children making memories. Except, mine are kind of making me crazy.
Do you have any expectations that far exceed the realities?
You are SO amazing for being willing to put your house out there in a state of not-perfection. I always worry about putting pictures of my house because I’m a big ol’ wimp. LOL
Also, as my mother always says, “Messy is fine. Dirty is bad.” You got a lot of mess but it doesn’t look dirty!
Aw, thank you Jenny. I did make sure there was nothing horribly embarrassing on the floor!