Sequencing Back into Full-Time Work
Sequencing... that's what they call this apparently. After 7 years of being a stay at home mom and being home with my two girls (currently ages 5 and 7, both off to "big school"), I decided to jump back into the full-time work force and "sequence" my way back into working. It makes sense, I suppose, where the name sequencing comes from... we have been on a different schedule and different wavelength for quite a bit of time, and now we need to realign our "sequence" with something more "mainstream".
It's a mixed bag of emotions. Nervousness about whether or not I quite remember what it's like working full-time. Anxiousness about a whole new set of issues to contend with, kiddo pickups, drop-offs, school times that they need to be there by, after school activities they need extra snacks to bring. A bit of sadness because those snuggly baby days are over... there's happiness too though. A happiness of doing something again that is my own, something of my own making.
It is a bit odd, after being in the stay at home mom community for seven years, some of my best friends are career stay at home moms or housewives - which I completely respect by the way, it's a bit job - you kind of get in this mind set that it is just "what you do" and you kind of completely forget that there are women out there working full-time that have been all along. At least I did anyways. And then it hits you, that they have a seven year head start on you jumping back into working - and that makes you break a sweat just a little.
Biggest Challenges of Sequencing
Happily, I can say that the adjustment on my side has gone fairly well. Not without it's hiccups, but the type of job I took is fun (social media marketing, i.e. I pretty much do at work, what I am sitting here doing right now while writing this article - just for a different company!) and it keeps me busy. The days go fast and I think that really helps, when you're doing something you enjoy and you have full days that are dynamic.
It hasn't been without challenges though, the girls are ages 5 and 7 right now - Natalie is soon to turn 6. Bella has been off at "big school" for 3 years now and has adjusted fairly well to having two working parents. They both go to an after school care and either my husband or myself picks them up when we get off of work. Bella will bound up to us and is excited to see us. It's cute to see her maturity in the situation and she has been doing well.
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| Adjusting with style! |
Natalie, has had a lot of big adjustments this year. We moved across the country into a different culture. She started "big school" going 5 days a week, all day long for the first time for kindergarten this year. And she has been put in a lot of situations where she is meeting new people and making new friends, which luckily is her forte. It's not without it's challenges though, she's young. It's a long day, waking up to go to school at 7:00am and then being at after school care until 5:30pm or beyond. Some days she's cranky, other days she's excited to tell us about her day. As time goes on, I think it will get easier and easier though.
Changes Ahead
All in all, it has gone about as smoothly as I think it could and the transition going from being a stay at home mom to a working mom has been "fine". Only a few weeks into our transition, the few pieces of advice that I would give to anyone considering making the change would be to:
- Research childcare options and costs that will work with your potential new schedule so that you can factor those into your future salary.
- The week before you start working, run through the time schedule you will have to be on and "practice" dropping the kids off at school, driving to work, and making sure the timing you anticipate actually works with the commutes.
- The first week, just focus on getting into the time routine and don't stress about household duties.
I also plan to do some things for myself, like hiring an in-home cleaning service at least once a month to keep the house going, and also allow ourselves to have takeout a bit more than we usually have. I think cutting yourself some slack during the transition helps to not feel stressed out. Since I'm a member of the 2017-2018 Chick-fil-A Moms Panel and it's one of our favorite places to eat, with a kid's play place too as an added bonus for the kids - it will definitely be a favorite that we stop by at least a few times a month!
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| Chicken Tortilla Soup with Hot Sauce! Yum! |
All in all, it's gone well and I'm interested to see what the future holds! I'm glad I took the leap and it's also working out okay so far for me to keep up with my YouTube Channel and also working during the day. I'll do some videos coming up in the future as to how I am juggling it all!
Check out my announcement on YouTube here:
** This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.
