For The Working Mother There’s No Such Thing As One Right Path!

For The Working Mother There’s No Such Thing As One Right Path! 

Written by Diane E (Hess) Swett 4/8/2013 for Parade Magazine "Tell us how you or women in your lives have managed families and careers."

I am a retired Registered Nurse and a Mother of 8 Children. Work for me was an emotional need for me. I realized after my 1st child I needed the adult conversation afforded by working. It kept me sane. I loved my Children and Husband and my Part Time salary helped to augment our finances. It wasn't until 1974 after working as a Keypunch Operator. A very Boring Job. That I realized I needed something more challenging. by then my oldest son was 13 with 5 sisters and brothers of various ages. All along I arranged my work schedule to fit the family needs but now I felt that I wanted something more. A Career. I decided to go back to school - to learn Nursing. I was in my 30's by then. I wanted a career that would be looked on in the banking community as adding to my family's financial contribution, before my part time work was not even considered, but as a teacher or a nurse it would be. We wanted to buy a home and I saw this as a way to get there, I went to school full time for the 1st 1 1/2 years completing 3 semesters. I had six children at this time and many days I would take them to campus with me, provide them with a picnic lunch and sit them outside the classroom window where I could watch them play. I would take my oldest boy into the Labs when I had to dissect a pig and he learned alongside me about the workings of the heart. Of course I could not do this without my husband’s full support. We bought a home right next to a Community College that happened to have a good Nursing program and I threw myself in my studies. I juggled work, school, children and Home for the next year & a half and graduated in the top 4 of my class. My husband & I cried together that night after graduation! It was an accomplishment we both made. Then as my career took off it meant juggling more, kids, home, work, my husband & I did it together. It has afforded us a better combined income, bettered our life and shown our children what true commitment meant. We even had 2 more children after I graduated and now here I am at 70, thankful for my full and crazy life, my family and the benefits of a good pension my career provided. Along the Way I had come across some great barriers to being a women, many times I was told - I was a women and men needed jobs more, I was overweight and would not make a pretty nurse for the Dr.’s, and fought against the prejudice of certain jobs being only for men.

9 minutes ago · Edited · Like  4/8/2013 for Parade Magazine – Connie Schultz

Tell us how you or women in your lives have managed families and careers.