Tuesday, 20 September 2011
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What Have You Sacrificed For Your Children?
*I got this idea from my Redbook Magazine. They posed the question, what have you given up for your kids?* This can also be something you "put on hold".
A few months before I got pregnant, my husband and I had gotten an offer to be apartment managers at the same complex my mother in law and father in law were working at. Since they were moving, they thought we would like to take over. This would be the first real job, besides selling Avon, that I would have after we got married and after I had moved to Vegas. I was also, you know, only 20 years old. Part of me was really apprehensive about it. I hadn't a clue how to manage apartments and I knew it would be challenging. But at the same time, I was looking forward to having a job, making my own money and being independent in that way.
Fast forward a couple months.... I'm pregnant! All of a sudden, my days were spent laying on a couch, waiting to puke for what felt like the millionth time. All of a sudden, those thoughts of being able to spend some of my hard earned money on whatever I wanted, went to thoughts of what baby things we needed and saving money. In some senses, I gave up that little bit of "independence" that I was looking forward too. Now I had a whole new set of responsibilities on top of other ones. And, we ultimately knew that we couldn't do that job forever. Since we were living there, too, while managing, we knew we couldn't grow a family in a studio apartment forever. Though some parts of me still wishes we could...
And it should go without saying, but... I wouldn't change a thing about it!
It was all totally worth it!What have you given up or put on hold for you kids?
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About the Author
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- From: Brilliant_Innocence@xanga
- Name: Megan
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Comments (14)
I don't have kids, but I gladly give up my PARTYTIME! weekends to watch my little fellas (I'm a nanny) on Friday nights/Saturdays if their parents ask. Especially since they're leaving me soon.
I have given up my sanity!
Oh, and sleep. Yep, what the hell is sleep? I don't think I can remember what it feels like to sleep for more than a few hours a night.
@yourkbear@xanga - Amen, sister! Check and check!
I cannot speak about knowing the sacrifices of parents because I am not a parent. However I can say that I recognize, appreciate, and thank my parents for all they have sacrificed and continue to sacrifice for my siblings and me.
MANY thanks to my parents and other great parents as well!
My niceness for other people...seriously. I have to save what little I have for my children and husband that most people just get the bitch from me.
@Grtt@xanga - It's so sad when you have to leave a family. :(
sleep. spontenaity. my friends that were my own age (not so bad now that i'm turning 27. it was so much harder at 21...). freedom to buy what i want when i want with my own darn money.
dreams.
i wanted a career in music; composition, vocal performance, teaching as a last resort. i gave that up. i have to do something that earns a living, and my dreams do not come with a big enough paycheck. gotta pay rent in a house big enough for me & my 2 boys (and new husband! and he is wonderful!). gotta pay the utilities. gotta pay for daycare. gotta pay for food. gotta pay the car bill, insurances of all kinds, medical bills, not to mention my own school loans i had, pay for clothes....yeah. my dreams would have had me a happy starving artist, and i'd have accepted the starving part as long as i could pursue the art...but i gave that up for my kids.
instead, i spend my days in a cube at work, and study business information systems online. music is lost...it's hopeless. so yeah. i gave dreams up for my kids.
@WaitingToShrug@xanga - Even sadder when they leave you! Okay, probably not, but it feels like it. I haz a mope.
heh... maybe more money coming in... but I am glad to be a sahm. Sleep... though I could choose to go to bed earlier... but it doesn't seem to happen...
I am glad to be a mom
@Grtt@xanga - im a nanny too! its so great
When I was pregnant, I had intended to go back to work as soon as I could. But I immediately changed my mind when he was born. It just wasn't in me to leave him with somebody so I could go back to a job I loathed. I'd also intended to go back to college when he started preschool. But with my sick grandma, my husband's schedule, and our only having one car, that plan was put on hold, too. I don't consider it a sacrifice, though. It's just a delay. When I'm able to go back, I will. For now, I intend to enjoy the time I have with my boy while he's still young enough to enjoy my company, too.
This reminds me of the picture and story I saw on Facebook..during a Japan earthquake, a mother risked her life to save her 3 months old baby. They were all buried.. the baby managed to live.. and next to the baby wrapped in blankets.. was a cellphone saying "if you manage to live, always remember mommy loves you very much" (or something like that?). It's really heartbreaking. :/
My mom was willing to sacrifice her life for me. The doctors told her that either I would die or she would if she gave birth to me, but she went through with it anyway. She lived through it (and so did I...obviously), but in a way, she has sacrificed her life for my brother and I. She left a job she loved so she could earn enough money to support us, she has given up her independence, her time, her 8 hours of recommended sleep per night, her income, her marriage...She's done a lot for my brother and I, and has sacrificed a lot more for us. I love her dearly for it, but I must admit, sometimes I don't appreciate her as much as I should. She's a great mother.
I had planned on going to graduate school. It had been my plan for 9 years to graduate early have a head start of studing for my GRE so I could get an amazing score and attend a fantastic university.
My due date was 2 days after the GRE, in my state it is only offered once a year. I will probably never take it and know I will never go back to school. I am glad I have my degree, but there really isn't much you can do with a psychology degree.
However, my son is worth so much more to me. I never, ever, planned on being a stay at home mom... but I do love being one.
Oh and 100% agree on the sleep and friends comments. But again, I gladly give those up too.