![i worry when im away from my kids i worry when im away from my kids](https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Olivia-Wilde-Full-1.jpg)
But those moments don’t happen when I am working. And I do my best to tell that voice to take a hike, but of course, that voice is powerful, and it doesn’t always listen.Īnd yes, sometimes I miss my son when I am not around him. It’s the evil voice, fueled by fear and inadequacy.
![i worry when im away from my kids i worry when im away from my kids](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/af/47/33/af4733d8578c99da3aafe7f56633a6cb.jpg)
It’s the same voice that tells me I am fat or that I am lazy or that I am not doing all that I could be doing. A voice intervenes and tells me that I’m being a horrible parent and a selfish mother and setting my son up for failure and a lifetime of resentment. Of course, from time to time, the guilt works its way into the soft parts of my brain. I am building a career that fulfills me and makes me proud of my abilities and accomplishments, and I don’t think that’s a thing I should ever have to apologize for. I’m not just providing for my family, I am providing for myself. She is doing what she has to do for her family. She just can’t, so don’t judge her for working. Yet, a mother is supposed to lament about the decision she has made to work and be a mother, and she is supposed to spend her time wishing she was back at home with her child because she would be a stay-at-home mom if she could. Fathers go to work and are hardly (if ever) asked if they miss their children while they’re in the middle of their workday. I love spending time with my kid, but I love spending time away from him too, doing other things that I can’t do when he is around, like, sometimes, my job.Īnd as mothers, I can’t help but feel like we’re afraid to say that we love what we do when what we do doesn’t involve our children. I like filling my life with a career and friends and projects that only I can complete. It’s not because he can be overwhelming or exhausting, but because I like doing other things that don’t involve him. I want to say that, yes, I even look forward to the time I spend away from my child.
![i worry when im away from my kids i worry when im away from my kids](https://pics.me.me/sobasicicanteven-when-you-actually-pa-cur-bills-on-time-kg-8736275.png)
![i worry when im away from my kids i worry when im away from my kids](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/17/5f/08/175f0826c15f773a8d81391cac78983e.jpg)
I am thinking of the task at hand, and when I’m in the thick of the thing that makes me feel alive, I’m content knowing that I am creating something for myself. I want to say that when I’m in the middle of an article or walking into a meeting or sitting down to dinner with an interviewee, I am not thinking of my child at all-not even a little bit. I want to say that I love my job, and I love the opportunities it provides me, and I love doing the thing I love to do, especially when it’s just me and that thing. I do the “right” thing and say it’s hard and that I can’t wait to be home, and some of that is true.īut really, I want to tell them that it isn’t hard at all. People tilt their heads to the side, ever-so-slightly, and effortlessly lift their eyebrows while asking me how I could possibly handle time away from my child. Sometimes my career requires moments away from my son, whether it’s in another room writing an article to meet a deadline, or it’s in another state, being flown to visit a clinic or meet a person or cover a story for a few days.Īnd every time I do something that doesn’t involve my son, I am asked if I miss him. I also have a 1-year-old son who loves to play and read his First Words book and believes I’m the only who can sufficiently rock him to sleep.
I WORRY WHEN IM AWAY FROM MY KIDS FULL
I have a calendar full of deadlines and standing conference calls and editors who believe in my ability. I’m a working writer who is fortunate enough to stay at home with her child while I carve out a (debatably) respectable career. Every time I’m away from my child for a discernible amount of time, I’m inevitably asked this question: