Perspective

Most of life is about perspective. The more we have of it the easier it is to understand a situation, react to a problem etc. And just to give you perspective I am writing about a situation where the mom (Vivian) is home during the day and the dad (me) is at work. That is not to say it is the only possibility but it is the one I have the most perspective on. Sorry for the long intro!

In the case of parenting perspective is king. Knowing the job of a mom helps the dad understand how to interact with her when he arrives home and knowing the stress of the workplace helps the mom react to the dad when he arrives home, etc. All that being said, I am going to state my thesis as the following..."A mom with more than 1 kid has a much harder job than any work situation I will ever encounter".

My story.

Yesterday was stay at home and have fun day since it was MLK day and not a work day. We had a baby sitter lined up for a few hours and all was going to be great. But then the stomach flu with in all of its wonder hit Vivian around 11pm the night before. Thus ended the potentially fun day. But I was super thankful that I had a day off to watch both kids and let Vivian suffer in peace. I love our kids and they are both wonderful, cute, etc but when Eliana is teething and Patrick doesn't want to take a nap, the day gets longer and longer. I am not complaining here because by all accounts we are very blessed. My point is that there is nothing that I have ever encountered in 20+ years of working that compares with the energy that it takes to deal with 2 kids on the "not so good days". It is not one specific part of the day that throws the day off but a series of little things adding up to never getting time to sit down for 10 minutes and do nothing. But here is the thing...for mom's this is the rule, it is common place. I think that if Dad's could take a day off and deal with the kids at the neediest for 1 complete day (i.e. midnight to midnight with no one sleeping through the night) their perspective on what their wife has to deal with would change. No matter what kind of high power, high paying, stressful job you might have, I have never seen a spreadsheet scream at me or have a complex problem whine at me. They just sit there until they are solved, nice and politely. Fellow employees can be an issue but at the end of the day they don't go home with you. I am not saying that this knowledge will create total marital bliss but I will take anything the work world can throw about me over 2 emotional, teething, not sleeping, needy kids. The former just doesn't compare in terms of energy expended.

Let's all be thankful for the moms!

Thanks for reading