Oh MAN I loved this post! I knew in my heart this is exactly how you would flourish as a mom and a philosopher and a teacher, but it is such a joy to read it from you. I'm glad it's all coming together this way for you.
I knew you'd be the perfect person to put it all in perspective. Thanks so much for taking up my request and blogging about your experiences as a mom working outside the home. Your post helped me to re-connect with the excitment I feel about being both a mom and a philosopher.
Here's to the Cosmopolitan Mother!
My favourite part about going to work after having kids is not having to bring anyone into the bathroom with me when I go. Seriously. I was desperate for a little "me" time. Even time spent with students at least allows me to have complete thoughts again.
I see now that that labor is decidedly not what earns the respect of students (but that is another post).
I'd like to see that post.
Also: I'm glad that Mom and Professor/Philosopher have managed to merge so well. It'd be quite sad if it really were either/or but not both.
This is a beautiful post. Thanks for celebrating and capturing the complexity of the engaged, working and thinking mother. Good days and bad, I'm glad to have so many pieces of me come together as a whole...
Thank you for this post. I just got around to reading it, due to my own sleep-deprived mothering thing. I felt the same way going back to teaching last fall. Thank god I can relate in the world in a, as you say, more complicated way. But then, I agree too that everything became more meaningful, and I loved working my new identity as a mother into my classes.
I completely relate to this idea of being way overtired and underprepared. For me, I was relieved to find that I was still always ahead of my students--and as an adjunct, I'd been working too hard as it was. The baby at home seemed to help me relax, let it go, and the students never knew the difference.
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