Mom the Chemistry Professor by Kimberly Woznack & Amber Charlebois & Renée Cole & Cecilia Marzabadi & Gail Webster

Author:Kimberly Woznack & Amber Charlebois & Renée Cole & Cecilia Marzabadi & Gail Webster
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783319789729
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Impact of Career on Family and Family on Career

We usually think of family influencing career, but career can also influence family. Sometimes it is hard to figure out which way the arrow points, family → career or family ← career? Surely those temporary issues like dealing with a sick child or being on time to pick kids up from day care fall under the category of family impacting career. Attending meetings, conferences, workshops, etc. in distant places or deadlines for work obligations fall under the category of career impacting family. But most of the time, a basic chemistry concept, that of thermodynamic equilibrium, describes the interaction precisely. We seek balance in equilibrium, Family ⇌ Career.

So how have I found this elusive equilibrium? For the first 8 years of our children’s lives, my husband and I chose to hire a full-time nanny, the most expensive, but also the most convenient, childcare. Initially, my husband’s entire take-home pay barely covered the nanny’s salary and the mortgage payments for our house, but it was worth every penny that we spent. We were blessed to have two exceptional nannies, Randi and Donna, for all but 4 months of those 8 years; in between these two, we had another nanny who did not work well with us. Our nannies did not live with us. They arrived at our home at around 7 am and stayed until 6 pm. They did so much more than tend to the children—all the laundry, much of the shopping, some food preparation—in addition to providing an attention-rich and loving environment for the boys. When both children were in school full time, we hired a series of wonderful after-school babysitters who picked the kids up from school and cared for them until we got home. Each had her own style and the kids loved them all. We continue to maintain contact with both our wonderful nannies and most of the after-school sitters for years after they stopped working for us. Our attention to our nannies’ needs made it possible for them to stay with us for years. Indeed, we have continued to help both of them in times of need and they have returned the favors for us. Most of the weddings our kids have attended were of their former babysitters!

One way that my career has influenced our children is through their exposure to and reliance on lots of people other than their parents. Ian developed lasting ties to Randi, who cared for him from age 6 weeks to more than 4 years. Eric developed significant ties to Donna, who began caring for the children when he was 8 months old and only stopped caring for them when we left for my first sabbatical leave, a few weeks before Eric’s fourth birthday. Both nannies worked as a team with my husband and me. They echoed our values; they read to our sons, engaged in enriching activities like swimming lessons, horseback riding lessons, visits to parks and playgrounds, regular visits to the public library for books galore, and so much more.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.