I don't usually subscribe to "mommy guilt." After three months of being home with Wm after his birth, I was back at grad school asking a professor for some part time research work while I was waiting for the Foreign Service hiring process to be completed. I didn't really feel pangs of regret, either, when I went back to work after Patch was born (though the pumping part was miserable). Greg and I have taken pre-marital counseling advice to heart and do try to go out once/week with no kids and no mention of kids during the meal. Yes, this was pretty hard after Wm was first born, especially when I wasn't working and felt like my life was consumed by new baby stuff, but now that we're in the habit it's really become our "adult time."
(Side note on how I ended up keeping my mind from turning to complete baby-related mush: I used to read The Economist out loud to baby Wm. Maybe that has contributed to him being such a serious and intense kid?)
This year, though, I volunteered to be treasurer for the embassy's employee-association-run pre-school, AmeriKids. I'm not sure if it's my volunteer spirit wanting to find an outlet, a sense of encroaching "mommy guilt," my missing playing around with financials and spreadsheets, or perhaps a combination of the above, which led me into this state of insanity, but here I am.
As volunteer work goes, though, I do find the location useful. I tried hard to volunteer with a maternity birthing home for low income women, but the commute to the home (45 minutes to 2 hours as traffic was totally unpredictable) proved too much for even one Saturday a month -- I would be gone from my own home an entire day without seeing any of my boys, and then the guilt really kicked in, chilling any warm fuzzies emanating from helping people. AmeriKids, though, is co-located with my house -- and most treasurer stuff I can do one evening a week or so after I put the (two small) boys to bed -- so it fits better with our family schedule's ebb and flow.
All the same, it's hard work running a pre-school! And that's with a president who probably spends at least 10-15 hours/week (unpaid) on administration, a secretary-cum-parent-curriculum-advisor (who teaches online college biology when she's stationed overseas with her husband), and two more parent volunteers (who have full time embassy jobs) also actively involved in helping with lots of other admin odds and ends.
Whatever caused me to volunteer, I'm under no delusion that Patch will ever be aware of the effort put forth. He'll continue to have his nanny attend most of the events which happen during the day which request caregiver participation (about one per month). I might not be the mom seen often in the classroom, but I'm definitely the mom who can whip up an Excel budget like no other. (and my chocolate cupcakes aren't too bad either, even if I'm not there to see the kids devour them!) To each her own!
(Side note on how I ended up keeping my mind from turning to complete baby-related mush: I used to read The Economist out loud to baby Wm. Maybe that has contributed to him being such a serious and intense kid?)
This year, though, I volunteered to be treasurer for the embassy's employee-association-run pre-school, AmeriKids. I'm not sure if it's my volunteer spirit wanting to find an outlet, a sense of encroaching "mommy guilt," my missing playing around with financials and spreadsheets, or perhaps a combination of the above, which led me into this state of insanity, but here I am.
As volunteer work goes, though, I do find the location useful. I tried hard to volunteer with a maternity birthing home for low income women, but the commute to the home (45 minutes to 2 hours as traffic was totally unpredictable) proved too much for even one Saturday a month -- I would be gone from my own home an entire day without seeing any of my boys, and then the guilt really kicked in, chilling any warm fuzzies emanating from helping people. AmeriKids, though, is co-located with my house -- and most treasurer stuff I can do one evening a week or so after I put the (two small) boys to bed -- so it fits better with our family schedule's ebb and flow.
All the same, it's hard work running a pre-school! And that's with a president who probably spends at least 10-15 hours/week (unpaid) on administration, a secretary-cum-parent-curriculum-advisor (who teaches online college biology when she's stationed overseas with her husband), and two more parent volunteers (who have full time embassy jobs) also actively involved in helping with lots of other admin odds and ends.
Whatever caused me to volunteer, I'm under no delusion that Patch will ever be aware of the effort put forth. He'll continue to have his nanny attend most of the events which happen during the day which request caregiver participation (about one per month). I might not be the mom seen often in the classroom, but I'm definitely the mom who can whip up an Excel budget like no other. (and my chocolate cupcakes aren't too bad either, even if I'm not there to see the kids devour them!) To each her own!
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