Growing up I was always well aware that my father went to Harvard and my mother went to Yale. The implicit question was, “Would I achieve such ‘greatness’ as well?”
I’m not happy that this knowledge propelled me to be a bit too overachieving as a student. I think I suppressed parts of my personality and was over-disciplined at times in fear that I would disappoint my parents and whomever else placed academia on a high pedestal.
Nevertheless, when I got into Teachers College, Columbia University I was relieved that I finally achieved Ivy League status.
Little did I know that not only would I follow in my mother’s footsteps attending an Ivy League—but also setting aside that education to stay at home to raise my daughter.
Well, staying at home isn’t financially viable so I chose the next best thing and decided to work in a preschool where I could be close to my daughter—often in the very same room!
I feel blessed to work with my daughter nearby. I’m sure I’m somehow still gonna miss some of her firsts since I’m caring for other precious children too, but I’m seeing her way more than if I had kept my full-time nutritionist job in NY where I worked for six years.
While I maintain a small private practice on the side, I am aware that my nutrition career is not developing at the trajectory it would had I continued to work in the field of nutrition. Although, as I discuss in my post Evolution of a Healthy Eater—there’s more to that story as well, as I have become more interested in wellness areas aside from nutrition in recent years. Moreover, before I pursued an MS in nutrition I received my BA in psychology and have always been fascinated by child development.
Getting to spend time with my daughter throughout the day is priceless. Yet when I am there for her naptime, hearing her cry breaks my heart. Naptime has always been the hardest part of working in the same class as my daughter. But she has learned to fall asleep much better now than in the summer months and I’m proud of her for that! And through it all I remind myself how blessed I am to have achieved the work-momlife balance of which I had dreamed.
Mindful Nuggets 