Wednesday, May 1, 2013

On being the working parent

We just got back from one of Eli's school functions, where I watched my husband hold court in a mass of class moms. None of who had any interest in meeting me, if you catch my drift. School is the one place where I really notice the larger effect of our single income arrangement. I don't know a single mom by name. Despite volunteering in class I don't even know the majority of his classmates. It's not necessarily bad, but it is weird. Especially since I have been home for three months. Is this a common working mom situation? If so, how to you make sure that you stay keyed in? C knows all the gossip, who's who, and which kid is super popular this week while I still can't figure out if class starts at 8:17 or 9:06.

2 comments:

  1. Well, I guess Ben and I are weird because we are 50/50 work and home, so we are both at school all the damn time (he's a PTA officer, even). BUT my friends who are SAHMS do the school stuff and while the dads show up for the big things-- concerts, presentations, picnics, etc-- they are not typically part of the day-to-day. To be honest, I don't think it bothers them. If I were you, I would let it go and figure your husband has it, KWIM?

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  2. Oh, I feel it, too. I'd finally get a day off and volunteer or show up at a parent meeting and feel completely out of it, invisible and unimportant. I would want to scream, "I WANT to be here with my kids! I WANT to help serve lunch! I WANT to hang around after drop-off and gossip and drink coffee with all the other moms!" *sigh* Just my place in life, I guess. It's more a reflection of how I feel inside; my personal priorities would be staying at home with my kids, but my financial priorities are things like Health Insurance.

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