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