It's Working Project

“I really try not to bring anything home. I don’t check email when I’m home at night. I’m really trying to separate the two environments. Same thing with weekends. That is my time to be a mom.”

After a tough start, a middle school teacher finds a balance and routine.

 

Susan Greenspan thought she was failing. “This is my first child, I had no idea what to expect,” she explained. “So many friends and my mother told me I would feel that I wasn’t doing anything 100 percent, the parenting or the work, I didn’t realize how that would actually feel.”

After eight weeks maternity leave, Susan went back to work as the head of the middle school and an English teacher. And it was incredibly hard. “It’s gotten easier, but it will go in waves. When you get into a routine then something switches: if there is an uptick in work activities, or Oliver gets sick. All that stuff I knew about, but when you’re living through it, it’s different and challenging.”

And pumping at work? “It’s horrible,” she said. “The times of day that we have built into our day with free periods–to prep, meet with people, make photocopies–that is when I am pumping. I feel guilty that I am being paid to work to do this. I am counting the days to make it to six months, then I am going to reevaluate pumping.”

But even through her struggles, Susan has found work to be supportive.  “They completely understand,” she said. “No one makes me feel guilty for going off and doing this, but I feel like I am neglecting part of my duties. I only do it twice a day, the other woman [pumps] three times a day. I just can’t get the time.”

Susan felt that part of her challenge came from having a baby in the wintertime and feeling cooped up with bad weather. “Now that the weather has been better, we can actually go for a walk when I get home rather than spending time together cramped in the house.”

But Susan has started to find others ways to make things better. “I’m way more efficient during the workday, I really try not to bring anything home. I don’t check email when I’m home at night. I’m really trying to separate the two environments. Same thing with weekends. That is my time to be a mom.”

Her other trick? “I’ve found someone to come every two weeks to clean the house. That is my personal treat. Everyone can’t do that, but I was willing to give something else up to get that.”

She tells other parents to take all the help they can get, particularly through the back-to-work transition. “Take all the offers from people who want to come and visit and do stuff with you. And people who are going by the grocery store and saying they will pick something up for you. Taking advantage of those things is a great thing to do.”

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