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By KT

I have been teaching over 25 years and my daughter is in college and my son just graduated from high school, so I always worked. I never felt I could afford not to work so I tried not to stress over it. My friends who went
back to teaching after staying home with kids for a while seemed to have a harder time adjusting. Looking back, teaching is rather ideal because we do have vacations which hopefully correspond with your own children, and we can leave earlier in the afternoon than most jobs to take our kids to appointments, go to soccer games etc. I was fortunate to have my own children at my school and

I had one daycare provider throughout their childhoods. In the long run, I feel they became very responsible children who had to help make it all work and not overly dependent on a mom who could devote all her time to them.
On the school front, do what you can and do not worry about what you can't get to...we all aim to do more than is realistically possible. I learned not to compare myself to other teachers and what they were doing. Also, I learned NOT to mention to my students my plans unless I was sure I could get to them, because they don't forget!! Remember, that so much of teaching is building a relationship with those students to become good citizens and lifelong learners...this does not happen necessarily by correcting mountains of papers and fancy fieldtrips. Use your parents as much as possible and let your students take on as many jobs as possible too. I always took home too much "homework". Try to give yourself a cutoff time to go home and limit what you will do at home. I always stayed up late and did schoolwork after my kids went to bed. If worked...I was always tired. But I find both jobs..mom and teaching very rewarding. You will be a role model to your own children and all of your students.