Life as a working mom is simultaneously rewarding and challenging. It’s about supporting your family and, hopefully, doing something you enjoy at the same time. But it’s also another thing to manage amidst the mental load of motherhood. This means that life as a working mom is rarely easy.
It’s also cold and flu (and COVID-19!) season in Minnesota. And the goal for every family and household is staying healthy until spring. But exposure to people at work and school and daycare makes this difficult. Managing work and motherhood when sick is virtually impossible. I recently experienced this first hand. Not only was I under the weather, but sickness passed from child to child, which meant a lot of unproductive time at home with all the pressures to keep up and keep going.
At the end of February, my entire family came down with Influenza B and it was awful. Literally, the worst of every sickness I’ve yet to experience. Given the current environment, there was no question that we should stay home until feeling better. This meant that I missed an entire week of work and my girls missed anywhere from three to five days of school. Despite behind home, it was impossible to catch up or be the least bit productive. At the end of the week, I was behind on laundry and dishes, had no groceries on hand, was surrounded by clutter and every member of the family had watched too much television.
As the stress about sickness and spread continues this season, I’m reminded that I did exactly what I needed to and was exactly where I needed to be. There is so much pressure to do and be it all that we forget to pause, rest, recover and reset. It takes time and it can’t be rushed.
I felt lucky that I was able to take time to rest and recover. I was able to stay home with my girls when they needed to rest and recover. And I was able to work remotely when I finally felt up to it. This meant that I could get work done, contribute to my team and still be the mom I needed to be.
Working from home with small children around is rarely easy but provides an opportunity to prioritize. Parenting when sick is about giving yourself a bit of a break. I hate that my house was a cluttered mess and I lacked the ability to be as productive as I would have liked. But allowing my children to rest and watch more television than normal meant I got the work time I needed to not feel incredibly behind.
My message to moms is this: Take care of yourself. Take care of others. But also, give yourself a break. Know that you are doing the best you can in the moment. Being a working mom requires compassion for yourself. It may not be easy but it is temporary. Do what you can do and know that is all you can do.
