Summer vs. The Working Mom

When Summer comes, so does Chaos...

For the kids, summer is a time of carefree fun. For stay-at-home moms, the challenge (from my perspective in reading all the facebook pages and blogs) is to keep the kids active and busy in the midst of chaos. Although all of the activities look like a blast, I know that for these moms, it is hard work. Day-in and Day-out, organizing the fun activities that your children are sure to enjoy so much they fly on the high of their excitement only to crash later from exhaustion. And mom gets to go along for the ride only to wake up the next day and start the cycle all over again in addition to keeping up with all of the household responsibilities that never seem to stop.

As a working mom, I read about all of these summer activities. Every time I read about them, I feel so guilty that I am not one of those moms. I don't get the thrill of enjoying those fun times with my children during the summer months because most working moms don't get summer vacation. I feel it is time that I am missing with my children. They are still enjoying those fun activities....only without me. It isn't easy knowing that my schedule remains the same. I have the same hours in the week and I have the same responsibilities. I still try to maintain some kind of schedule amongst the summer chaos, but my children continually ask "What are we doing tonight/this weekend?" as if I am some cruise activities director with a list of activities and events to fill every minute of the hours I spend with them. And of course, I always give in to the pressure of keeping up with the summer chaos around me so my children feel they are getting the full summer experience. So, I try to continue to manage my responsibilities with my job and within my household with the little time I have in addition to making sure there are fun weekend events planned. As my "fun" weekends come to an end, I have used every minute of every bit of the 50 hours that I have over the weekend not only to get laundry, grocery shopping, bills and budget, workouts, house cleaning, and yardwork completed. I also have used it to take the kids to the pool, or to outdoor events in the community, have slumber parties, take the kids to the mall, go to the lake for swimming or jetskiiing or camping. Not too mention that our football/cheerleading starts mid-July and that starts to take over my Saturdays so my only "work" day at home is removed.

For me, as a working mom, summer is exhausting. Although there are times when it is so much fun, there is never a day that I get to choose to "rest" or catch up on my work around the house. Day in and Day out, I have to keep up with all of it or before I know it, I am behind. Granted, some days I have to prioritize and choose what will get pushed aside for tomorrow, but efficiency is my best friend. I have had to learn how to use every minute of every day from the time I wake up at 5:30am until I go to bed at 11:00pm. I have learned how to do more with less time. It may seem crazy, but I have learned to do certain tasks in certain orders just so I can get more done in the short time I have.

I also have to admit that I am seduced by the warmth of the sun, memories of my own summers spent on the beach, and fun with my siblings and friends. I want my children to have those memories as well. I want to have those memories and experience the same fun that I am reading about on a daily basis. I could choose not to do any of it. I could choose to be responsible all the time and not try to juggle the fun activities, but what kind of life would that be?
Some people tell me that I will burn myself out. I just say that, I have to use the energy I have while I am young. Honestly, I find that the more I do, the more energy I have. I heard someone say once, “I will rest when I am dead.” Well, that’s my plan. For now, I am going to use and enjoy every minute of every day that I possibly can.

I will rest – someday.