Seperation Anxiety
It’s Sarah’s first day back at work. There was a light grey cloud over the house at times this weekend. You could tell she was apprehensive about the jump back in. My wife is extremely good at what she does. For the most part, she enjoys work. However, it does not define her. And after 6 weeks at home with the Tony, watching him grow and begin his social interaction, it’s hard to give that up for 8 hours a day. She’s no longer “Sarah, the kick butt take names working woman” she’s “Sarah, the kick butt take names working mom.”
I had about 2 months at home with Jack. Going to work was hard, but I was defined by what I did. Home wasn’t as happy as I led everyone to believe, so work was my refuge, my hiding place. And, Jack was on campus with me. I could walk to the daycare and stick my head in. So I can almost empathise with Sarah, but not really. I hope she see’s home differently.
So, as I always do, I found some articles on Mommy separation anxiety. Here’s a quote I liked muchly:
I’ve always said, less stress is better for everyone. If staying at home and trying to live on one income becomes a wedge in the house, it’s better to go back to work and alleviate that stress. Less comes form day care than budget issues. Money is tops when it comes to marriage problems…not daycare worries.
We all have different situations. At this point, neither Sarah nor I could become stay at home parents without making our day to day living extremely difficult. Yours might be different. However, when it comes down to it, less stress is going to be best for parents and baby, so figure out that path, and take it.
Luckily, Sarah’s mom is watching Tony until March, so we have been blessed with a little more family time for Tony before he begins daycare. I’m sure she’ll have some anxiety when her time is up with Tony. We’ll cross that bridge then.
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