A Working Mom's Working Weekend

Work Wednesday

My husband and I are fortunate that our jobs don't require us to work on weekends. Usually.

But last weekend was a working weekend for both of us. My husband's facing a deadline in a case he's working on, and I have a project that's overdue, a conference presentation today, and an overseas work trip scheduled for the week after next. (And did I mention my son's 5th birthday celebrations coming up this weekend?)

Now when I say it was a working weekend, I'm not being entirely accurate. Long ago, when I was young, single, and an associate in a private law firm, I did spend many so-called "days of rest" entirely at work, emerging only after dark, and even sometimes not until it was getting light. Not every Saturday and Sunday, of course, but working weekends were a standard stint. 

Given the hole I was in, I would have relished the opportunity to relive that long-ago drudgery. But I couldn't. There was religious school, tae kwon do, ice skating lessons, the school book sale, and the two kids that go along with the activities. Then, there was my husband's desire to get some work done, too.

So, instead I should say that last weekend was a less-than full time working weekend. Sort of like the  "less than full time but not exactly part-time mommy-friendly schedule" I've mentioned before.

Saturday, my husband and I worked in shifts. I spent the morning parked in front of the computer while my husband shuttled the kids around. Then, I took on kid duty in the afternoon, while he worked away.

Sunday was another story. I managed to make pancakes from scratch for breakfast but then discarded all domestic duties and childcare responsibilities. My husband and I both spent the entire day immersed in our work while our kids rampaged around the house, still in their pajamas. Luckily, they're old enough to entertain themselves (mostly) and they enjoy playing with each other. I ignored the sounds of little people jumping off the bed (repeatedly) and blocked other signs of scuffles. Basically, I held my breath and prayed that no one would suffer bodily harm.

Now, I'm not proud to admit to this parenting strategy but it served our circumstances. Besides benign neglect, I used three other tactics to survive the weekend: electronics, neighbors, and pizza.

On electronics, we basically let the kids watch as many videos as they could stand. We allow our kids only fairly limited screen time so they viewed this as a big treat. Surprisingly, even they have their limits.

As to the neighbors, we're lucky to have two kids right next door who are roughly the same ages as our children. When our kids said they wanted to play at the neighbors' house, we pushed them out of the door, retrieving them only when we figured that we had reached the limits of courtesy. Thankfully, our neighbors are extraordinarily kind.

Pizza. I know it's un-American but we almost never order pizza in. Sunday night, we did. And I served it right out of the box, without an accompanying salad or anything else to make it healthier. It was, I confess, really good. (I did, though, have to make something else for my son, who -gasp- doesn't like pizza.)

All in all, it wasn't one of my proudest or prettiest parenting moments, but it wasn't a disaster either. My kids actually had fun and we were able to get some work done. Still, I'm glad that our working weekend was a rarity rather than a regular routine.

What about you? Do you need to work on weekends? How do you handle your kids? Let me know if you have any good tips.

Photo by Dru Bloomfield via Flickr

Comments

[Miriam]

Was wondering why you didn't dump the kids on someone else and then you got to the part where you did and I breathed a sigh of relief for you and your husband. In the past year, we have had a bunch of those weekends and the pizza out of the box sounded pretty familiar. Hope you made your peace with it and feel good about the work you did! I bet the kids thought it was a great weekend. Our challenge now with a 6th grader is that sometimes we have to oversee her homework. So shoving her in front of electronics is not an option.

[Krissie]

Thank goodness for laptops. We have finished reports, reviewed grants, etc. at soccer and baseball fields all over Ohio! Mostly at practices and pre-game. If I have to work during any portion of a game, I do try to stay in the car so as not to be rude. Or, that practice or pre-game time can be used for other things that free up time for work at other times. I am a big believer in using the time to exercise, which works well for walkers/runners, but I have also done yoga in a grassy corner of the baseball park and, when my kids took swimming lessons, used the health center's machines. The choices are certainly not always my "ideal" workout location or sequence, and I would rather not have the hair-tied-back, sweaty look during games, but that's how it goes! People expect it now..can't let my reputation slide!