All in a Day's Work: Tales from the Crib

After being a high school alternative education principal for six years, I thought I could handle anything. I was used to going to work and taking care of 150 teenagers who belonged to someone else. I figured if I could manage all the challenging situations my students threw at me, staying home with my own kids would be heaven. Surely I could handle just two kids—both under the age of two—who were my own, right?
Well, in just a few short months, I’ve gone from exhaustion to exhilaration to insanity and back! I have always believed that life is one of our best teachers. But sometimes when life changes, so do the lessons we learn from it. Since I have chosen Experience as my newest teacher, I had no choice but to revamp some of the old lessons I learned as an educator and apply them to the life I now have as a mom.
Lesson One: There is no union. After teaching in a school district with a tough, fight-for-your-rights teachers’ union, I was under the impression, mistakenly of course, that I, too, had rights. I quickly learned that as a mom, that part of the Constitution simply does not apply. From telephone calls to bathroom breaks to intellectual conversations with other adults—it simply isn’t in the contract.
Lesson Two: Create your own planning period. As a principal, I sometimes heard teachers say that if they just had a little more time to plan, their jobs as teachers would be much easier. As a mom, I am now the one shrieking, “Where’s my planning period?!” Oh, for the days when I had a solid hour to do nothing but think about goals, expectations, and outcomes. Just think of what amazing little honor-roll toddlers I could create!
Lesson Three: There is no dismissal bell. Each day—after working my way through the imaginary lesson plan, providing breakfast, lunch, supper, half dozen snacks (and 12 sippy cups), monitoring their play, redirecting their attention (at least 100 times), and disciplining til my hand hurts—at the end of the day, there is no 3:00 bell. They’re mine; daylight til dark, awake or asleep, in sickness and in health, til death do us part—or at least until I can get a sitter.
Some days I think, “Did I actually apply for this overworked, underpaid, no-rights-all-responsibility position?” Then a little 12 month old will crawl up in my lap and give me one of those toothless, slobbery grins that melts my exhaustion away. Or out of the blue and for no reason at all a two and a half year old will say, “Hey Mom, you’re a good mom.” Now that’s what I call job satisfaction.
So, to those who are new parents, or those who once were and have regained enough sanity to tell about it, I know that you will either find comfort in the thought that you are not alone, or you will laugh at my tales in remembrance of your own. Because regardless of the hours, the pay or the prestige, it’s All in a day’s work, and it’s worth it!