Balancing Family and Work

When I had my first child, I was fortunate enough to stay home with him until he was more than a year old. It was such a joy to see him go through the amazing development phases during his first year and I treasure it deeply.

With my second child, I am not so fortunate and have to be at work almost 9-10 hours daily. Initially I was glad to be back at work after being with an infant all day for the first few months. But now I am not so excited about the whole aspect of going to work and having to leave your baby in someone else's care. It pains my heart when my child smiles at me and I cannot pick her up because I have to leave for work.

Why do I have to work outside of home? I have to work so that I have a career for myself, to be self-dependent if need be, to bring home money to pay bills, to save for the future, to save for the kids education, to save for a rainy day fund.

But are all these things worth missing the joys of your child's first years?

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What does a woman want?

The age old question that no one seem to have an answer to. I have thought long and hard about what I wanted in life - as a woman, as a daughter, as a wife, as a mother?

As a daughter, I always wanted my parents to be proud of me and they were - they still are! They have done a good job of raising their children with lots of love and support, if I may say so myself.

As a wife, I always wanted my husband to accept me for who I was, not change myself to be someone that he may want me to be. I wanted affection, someone to talk to, appreciation, love, laughter, and sometimes craziness from my husband. Me being a reserved person myself, I wanted my husband to be the one to make me let go of my inhibitions and live a little crazy and look at life from a different perspective.

As a mother, I want to give my children all the love in the world as any mother would want to. I want my children to have life experiences that make them a good human being. I want them to be caring, loving, affectionate, considerate and just be a good person in general. I want them to know that as parents we would do anything for them and that everything we do is for them.

And when the everyday craziness of life gets too overwhelming or becomes mundane, I have to remember that the simple joys in everyday life is what makes life so spectacular.