Left: Amya, eighteen months oldMy neighbor went on a week vacation and asked me to watch her daycare kids. She usually cares for 30 kids, but this week she narrowed the number to 7 for my sake. I have 23 kids less than her, and it's killing me.
I wake up at 6 am and get the house and myself prepped for the kids. The first kid arrives at 7 and the rest trickle in by 9. I spend seven hours entertaining, tormenting, feeding, separating, cajoling, and controlling these guys.
By 9 am I collapsed on the couch--ignoring the cheerful screams from the other room--and thought, "This is what mothers do, except no one comes to take the kids away at the end of the day. A mother's job never ends. It is ForEver." It was a horrifying realization.
The fact that women volunteer themselves to this is baffling. My mom says it is different when they are your kids; I'm telling you it better be or I'm not choosing this for my career. Give me an office and boss any day! Really, motherhood should be considered a career; it is a career that takes 24 hours of the day, if not more.
I rallied myself for lunch time and hope gleamed fresh in my eye. I knew that once lunch was over i was hitting the best part of the day.
The clock chimed one o'clock and I walked in the play room grinning.
"Naptime!" I shouted joyfully. I skipped the youngsters to their beds, slapped the light off, threw a movie in for the older kids and--Hallelujah! The house is mine. Best time of the day, peeps, right here. Soak it in.
I wake up at 6 am and get the house and myself prepped for the kids. The first kid arrives at 7 and the rest trickle in by 9. I spend seven hours entertaining, tormenting, feeding, separating, cajoling, and controlling these guys.
By 9 am I collapsed on the couch--ignoring the cheerful screams from the other room--and thought, "This is what mothers do, except no one comes to take the kids away at the end of the day. A mother's job never ends. It is ForEver." It was a horrifying realization.
The fact that women volunteer themselves to this is baffling. My mom says it is different when they are your kids; I'm telling you it better be or I'm not choosing this for my career. Give me an office and boss any day! Really, motherhood should be considered a career; it is a career that takes 24 hours of the day, if not more.
I rallied myself for lunch time and hope gleamed fresh in my eye. I knew that once lunch was over i was hitting the best part of the day.
The clock chimed one o'clock and I walked in the play room grinning.
"Naptime!" I shouted joyfully. I skipped the youngsters to their beds, slapped the light off, threw a movie in for the older kids and--Hallelujah! The house is mine. Best time of the day, peeps, right here. Soak it in.
