Hello Everyone!
So I mentioned that I was going to try and interview mothers. I decided to post on Facebook to try and get my question answered by many more mothers than I would have time to reach out to. Here is what I posted:
"Attention Mothers! I need your help!
I am working on a blog for one of my classes and my question to you all is "how has having a child changed your life professional?" So in the workforce...Anything that relates to you having a child and working. I am going into elementary education and my blog is on mothers and children. Please if you could and don't mind either comment on here with your answer or message me with it.
Thank you so much!"

Within minutes I had a few responses. My first response came from a single mother and like all mothers she mentions how stressful it is to have to be a full time mother and have a full time job. As quoted she says, "In my experience, it's been stressful but rewarding, mostly stressful because I'm the sole parent and there's no one else to rely on when something goes wrong; however, I've been fortunate enough to land a job where I can make a career and grow professionally but still have enough time and flexibility to be there for Avery {her daughter} and do what I have to do as a parent."

Next, she tells me how hard it is to drop off her little girl at daycare five days a week for ten hours a day and only being able to see her and spend time with her for two to three hours a night once she picks her up from daycare.  She says, "It's gotten easier but I always felt guilty (still do sometimes!) about sending Avery to daycare 5 days a week, 10 hours a day."

Something that I never really thought of as being a challenge for working mothers that she spoke of was having to choose to either make a sacrifice within her job to not hang out after work, attend after work events or give up the time she gets each day with her child. She said if she does choose to participate in after hours events for work she has to sacrifice not seeing her little girl and also find a babysitter to watch Avery. The challenge with this is that if she does decide to sacrifice her time with her child she may end up loosing out on a great networking opportunity for her job and future career.
  
Lastly in relation to her job she wonders if she is looked down upon when she must stay home with a sick child or leave work early due to receiving a call because of sick child. She says, "It always seems to happen when I have a huge meeting or an important presentation." 

And in closing she explains how she is able to reason with herself., "It's rewarding to be able to make a decent living and to be able to support Avery on my own so that's how I reason with myself. I couldn't do it any other way. I think the time that I spend at work away from Avery makes me value the time we have together more. I don't know that I'd feel the same if I was a stay-at-home mom." 

I'm so glad I was able to get this great response but the quote that will stick with me most is "But all-in-all, I wouldn't change a thing. It's made me better at prioritizing and balancing work and family."

Have a great day,
Ms. Red

Good Afternoon,
Later into this week I hope to interview a parent and talk to them directly about how having a child has changed their life professionally but for now I am going to tell you about a family that I witnessed while I was at a hotel this past weekend in Green Bay. I spent this past weekend in Green Bay because I went to the Packer game with my mother and a few of her girlfriends from school. I was waiting for the elevator to open with one of my mom's friends after breakfast Sunday morning so we could go back up to the room and get ready for the game. When the elevator door opened there stood a middle-aged man with a hotel cart and a lot of luggage. The thing that was different about this scene was that all the luggage was on the ground and not on the cart. As the man started swearing about everything falling off the cart I turned around to notice that he was swearing at his kids about how they put all their stuffed animals on the bottom of the cart and that there was no support for any of the other luggage that was on top of the stuffed animals. There were a few girls and one son and one of the girls kept repeating "oh we just had a timber, everything fell off," as if it was not as big of a deal as the father was making it. I looked at my mom's friend as the girls were throwing all the stuff out of the elevator and I was going to take the stairs but she was holding the elevator door open for the girls so I decided to stand there and wait. The girls threw everything out into the hallway and nothing got put back onto the cart. There was about an ankle deep pile of luggage. The other thing that was odd was that it seemed as if none of the bags were closed because things that you would expect to be secure in a bag were on the ground, for example, earrings. Even though the one girl acted as if it was not a big deal that everything fell of the cart I felt so bad for how the father was talking to his own children.
Once we got into the elevator another couple was with us and the women said, "the joys of traveling with kids". This statement really stuck with me because the more I thought out it the more I started wondering why the children were the ones to load up the cart in the first place. I don't know about you, but when I was a child I do not ever remember being in charge of loading up the hotel cart. What can that father expect after having a couple of young children load up the cart? 

Good Afternoon!
The past few weeks I have been observing parents and children in our society but yesterday I put myself in their shoes. Wednesday afternoon I offered to take my friends little boy who is 20 months old so she could get some things at home done. Him and I went to the soccer game where we mostly ran around and did not watch much of any of the game. After the game I took him to my on campus apartment where we then hung out together. After hanging out for a little while it was time to bring the little guy back home. Once I got back to my apartment I realized just how hard it would be to have a child at my age of 21. I do not know how my friend does it. She is able to manage school, work, her child, all while still having a life. I enjoyed every minute I spent with the little boy but I was seriously tired out. Every time I tried to sit down he was up and running around. Being a mother is not easy work, you are literally working ALL the time. I give so much credit to those mothers out there who try and give their child a wonderful life. I cannot wait to be a mother but I hope it is not soon after stepping in for one today.