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Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Can you maintain family balance and go back to school?
Will you go back to school or change careers as your kids grow more independent?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As the mother of three children under 10 years old, it is sometimes difficult to imagine what my life was like before they arrived on the scene. For years, my job has been caring for and raising the kids. So every time my three-year-old reaches a milestone, I run the emotional gamut from sadness to elation.
With each step she takes toward independence, we move away from those sweet (and not-so-sweet) stages when our babies relied completely upon us. Bittersweet as that is, her move out of diapers and the Terrible Twos also lets our family do many things that were unthinkable even a year ago.
Perhaps the most exciting thing to me personally is the opportunity that lies ahead when my youngest goes off to Kindergarten. I’m not rushing the kids out the door by any means, but my children’s growing independence gives me a little more freedom as well.
A few of our regular commenters have written that they went back to school when their children grew older. I have always said I would return to graduate school. The everyday madness of our household, however, keeps me from doing little more than occasionally touching base with former professors or wondering how to juggle yet another ball without something falling by the wayside.
I know it can be done. For years, mothers have figured out ways to enjoy their careers and their children, start their own businesses, or go back to school. Maybe the university will offer a crash course in advanced juggling.
Have you gone back to school after having children? Have you changed careers, started your own business or otherwise altered the established family balance? How did everyone adjust to your new role and extra demands? Any advice or words of warning to those parents thinking of making such a move?
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