Last week we had staff appraisals at work and I guess it was inevitable, but I was asked about my goals and whether I was interested in becoming a supervisor. Ah thanks, but I’m happy being assistant supervisor and anyway I don’t want to work full-time which is what I would have to do if I took on the supervisor’s role.
The question came up again a few days later and again it was made quite clear that I don’t want to work full-time. Well, what about when all your children have left home in a few years time? No not even then.
I enjoy my job despite the personal-professional tension that I experience on a daily basis (I actually believe that preschoolers and especially those under two years of age ‘do better’ at home with mum but I’ll write more about this later when my readers have forgiven me for my most recent controversial posts). But I also enjoy being at home. For fifteen years I was a full-time-stay-at-home-mum while my children were little and I loved it! They were the best years of my life. I didn’t intend to re-enter the workforce after my youngest started school – it just happened. And because of the way it happened (I never ever wanted to be a teacher) I believe that it was God who led me to this job and that it’s where He wants me to be – at least for the present.
But He has also called me to be a wife and mother and these are my most important roles. If I were to work full-time I wouldn’t be able to adequately fulfil these roles. One thing I most value about my job is that I only work ‘school hours’. I’m home when my children are home before and after school and also during the school holidays. I also have three half-days off a week that I use to keep up to date with the myriad of household tasks that require doing. In fact, I’m hoping to decrease my hours next term and have even more time at home.
When I went back to work I worked just 2 days a week. That was lovely but slowly my hours have increased. There has been some pressure for me to work longer hours but nothing that I haven’t been able to withstand. I’m in a unique position in our centre in that I’m the only assistant supervisor who doesn’t work full-time. If that changed and I had to work full-time I’d gladly become a stay-at-home-mum again.
So thanks for the offer and the vote of confidence but no thanks.
The question came up again a few days later and again it was made quite clear that I don’t want to work full-time. Well, what about when all your children have left home in a few years time? No not even then.
I enjoy my job despite the personal-professional tension that I experience on a daily basis (I actually believe that preschoolers and especially those under two years of age ‘do better’ at home with mum but I’ll write more about this later when my readers have forgiven me for my most recent controversial posts). But I also enjoy being at home. For fifteen years I was a full-time-stay-at-home-mum while my children were little and I loved it! They were the best years of my life. I didn’t intend to re-enter the workforce after my youngest started school – it just happened. And because of the way it happened (I never ever wanted to be a teacher) I believe that it was God who led me to this job and that it’s where He wants me to be – at least for the present.
But He has also called me to be a wife and mother and these are my most important roles. If I were to work full-time I wouldn’t be able to adequately fulfil these roles. One thing I most value about my job is that I only work ‘school hours’. I’m home when my children are home before and after school and also during the school holidays. I also have three half-days off a week that I use to keep up to date with the myriad of household tasks that require doing. In fact, I’m hoping to decrease my hours next term and have even more time at home.
When I went back to work I worked just 2 days a week. That was lovely but slowly my hours have increased. There has been some pressure for me to work longer hours but nothing that I haven’t been able to withstand. I’m in a unique position in our centre in that I’m the only assistant supervisor who doesn’t work full-time. If that changed and I had to work full-time I’d gladly become a stay-at-home-mum again.
So thanks for the offer and the vote of confidence but no thanks.
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