Have teens is harder for my career, not easier – ryan

Nor the mother of five kids, the four of whom be were born in six years, i have spent all of my 17 years of parenting work from home in some capacity. And in those 17 years, i’ve been successful under the definition of a capitalist viewpoint.

The first year of hit a profit with my writing businesses was the same year i birthered my fourth child. I was viralwas interviewed by Good Morning America, and Churned Out Work at A Rate That Left Many People Wondering How I Did It All, Consding My Oldest Was Only 6 and My Husband Workhed Several Jobs.

I struggled to balance it all, but i remember thinking that time in my life, full of babies, toddlers, and preschoolers, would be the hardened part of my life. I just had to make it through, and then i could coast.

I was so terribly wrong.

I get mess with teens and tweens in the house

Now that Mest of My Kids Are Tweens and Teens, I Find MySelf in the Weeds of Parenting All Over Again, but this time i’m somehow ejausted, confused, and overwhelmed. Instead of dealing with potty training and tantrums, i’m dealing with teen drivers, volatile emotions, and Big Life Decisions.

I Feel Frustrated and Guilty, like I’m Doing Something Wrong for Somehow Being Productive as the Mother of Older Kids.

I think part of it is that they were small, there was a routine that let me get some work Done. There were Daily Nap Times I COULD COUNT ON, MOVIES I COULD TURN ON, OR PLAYDATES I COULD SCHEDULE. But with teens, i am never off the clock. I’m always a text away, and with a teen driver, i feel like swimming Be available 24/7.

Also, Older Kids Take Up More Space, Are Louder, and Have More Intense Needs Than I Anticipated. Every Day Feels Like a Circus Show of Juggling, and i’m Kind of Holding My Breath and Hoping I’ll Have Enough Breating Room to Manage Any Work.

While a cartoon and snuggles Could suffice with a toddler, Teenagers Require 50 memes, a thughtful conversation, and probably chick-a to connect. I Feel a Pressure to be emotionally available in a way i didn’t when they were younger, and that makes it hard to switch and fortth to work so working from home.

I want to embrace it all

I don’t want to be resentful of Being “interrupted,” and of coursse, i want to be there for my kids and hear all the details and be available for their lives. I want to be that person for say, and i’m all too aware and fleeting it all is, and i coulud loose one of the next years to collect.

You know the guilt heapeed on moms of young Kids about how fast it all goes, so you better soak in? Well, as a mom of teens, that guilt is magnified by about a million Becuses this is exactly the time they are talking about – we’re living the slow of our kids out of our lives.

I want to embrace it, soak it in, and be here for it. But i also have to pay my bills, and i don’t know how to do Both right now.

I’m Trying Some New Things, Like Getting Noise-Canceling Headphones, setting more firm bondaries about I can and can’t be interrupt, and trying to shift more of my morale in the day so have more work time.

The Presses and Intensity of this Stage Feel a lot like the new parent stage all over again, only with the cute baby to cuddle. I Still have plenty of sleeepless nights, Too – Watching Your Child on Life360 is the New Baby Monitor.

Maybe i Just Need to Give MySelf the Same Amount of Grace (and Coffee) As i did back then.