Being Mom - SAHM or Working

About 4 months back, I made a decision. And it has been one of the best decisions of my life. I started teaching at Sid’s school and have been happy. It is a rewarding job and I get the satisfaction of making a difference to someone at the end of the day. Little heads popping their head into my room to say hi to me whenever they pass by the room, kids coming at least once a day to spend about 5 minutes with me and kids who wait for my class each week – I love it all. Kids have this tremendous power of forgiving – I might have reprimanded someone one minute, but the next minute it is all forgotten and forgiven and they are back to smiling and talking with me again. 

A lot of people think being a teacher is the easiest profession, but it isn’t really. There is a lot of preparation and learning to do before the teaching starts. 

When I made this decision, people were ready to throw their opinions on me – that I was wasting my life, wasting away my degrees, that the salary offered might not be what I deserve, etc etc. Little did they realize that this was my life and my priorities. This job helped me focus on my family alongside doing what I wanted to do. I take my son to school and bring him back with me. I can sit with his work in the evenings, take him to the park and cook a good meal for the family. For me, these are my priorities and these things make me happy. 

I do not expect everyone to understand this. I appreciate their concern for me. But what amuses me is most often than not, these opinions and judgments come from other women. I discount most of it because I think it is their own complex manifesting in these statements. I don’t understand where the pressure to be ‘the perfect mom’ comes from. We all strive to do the best for our children, in whatever little way we can –being a SAHM or a working mom and there is no right way to doing it. I have been both and I know both are tough. Being mom is tough.