Making It Work as a Working Mom… Then Quitting – Part 1.5

Hey y’all and welcome back.

I wrote a post about my experience as a new mom going back to work after maternity leave and then quitting and published it on October 19th, 2022. I kind of left it on a cliff hanger as to why I actually quit… and I’m sorry to say that I’ve still gotta leave you hangin’ a bit. I am currently waiting to see what I am allowed to say or publish, and hopefully will be able to share more soon.

In the meantime, I can share what life has been like since quitting my “dream job” at the end of June 2022. 

I had the unfortunate timing of quitting said job at the end of the school year. Most schools fill their positions for the following school year in April and May. So I missed that window by a month or two. I also knew I was only going to need work through December since I would be going on maternity leave around that time. So I was in a very weird position of only needing a job for 6 months or less. But that didn’t stop me from applying to jobs like crazy though.

I applied for math teaching positions, subbing positions, middle school generalist positions, office positions, division lead positions… you name it, I applied for it. I looked at public schools, private schools, and charter schools. In total I would estimate that I applied to about 25 jobs, which is a LOT!

Now, I know my worth and I know I am a damn good teacher, so I was hopeful that I would find something. But applying in the summer months posed a challenge for me.

Then at the end of August, I ended up getting three job offers. One was for subbing at a private school, but I wasn’t guaranteed much work. Another was a part time position teaching grade 8 math, which is my specialty. It would have been every morning, Monday-Friday, from 7:30ish-12:00ish. I totally could have done this job, but it was at least a 45 minute drive each way. The third job I was offered and accepted was at Andee’s daycare. It was 10 minutes down the road, and I got to be near Andee the whole day. They also knew I was pregnant, which allowed me to not feel like I was being deceptive when accepting the job.

Now, even though I have almost a decade worth of experience with students K-12, I didn’t really have much experience with kids younger than that. Basically, my only experience was being Andee’s mom. Not to discredit myself because I have always done lots of research about parenting and educating for young kids out of interest for Andee, but working at a daycare was definitely a new experience for me.

I was hired as a float/support teacher, which meant that I got to work with every age group (infant, toddler, and preschool). I knew I had a lot to learn in terms of how the daycare actually functioned. For example, I’ve changed LOADS of Andee’s diapers, but I learned that there was a diaper procedure to follow for sanitary reasons. Of course this makes sense, but it was something I had to be informed about.

I actually really enjoyed being a float teacher because I got to see how each classroom was ran. Every teacher had their own way of doing things even though the general routines were the same. I saw things I really liked in some classrooms and some things that I thought would work better if done differently. But for the most part, I was just in awe at how patient and skilled my coworker were. Trust me, daycare teaching is not for the faint of heart. It is hard work, on your body, on you mentally, and these people are SOOOO underpaid. But that’s a whole other post for a different day.

I also got to help out in the kitchen and office a bit. I helped give new teacher orientations and was being trained to give tours to parents of potential new students. So I feel like I really got to learn about many elements of how a daycare works in just a few short months.

I quickly realized that I missed the classroom element of working with older kids (K-12), but that I was extremely interested in curriculum development and program planning for younger kids (infant – preschool). While I do not have a huge interest in working full time in a daycare classroom again, I feel incredibly grateful for the knowledge I gained and the experience I had. This isn’t to say that I am opposed to working at the office or administrative level in daycare though. In fact, I toyed with the idea of potentially opening up a specialty type of daycare someday. But again, that’s another post for a wholeeee different day… maybe days. lol

So now it’s January 2023 and what am I doing? Well I’m currently on maternity leave and at this moment I’m holding my sweet baby James on my chest as I type this. I forgot how slow the newborn days are, so my mind is having lots of time to think and dream about what I want for the future. I’m sure I’ll share more of that at some point.

But for now, I’m gonna leave you hanging for Part II where hopefully I can share a lot more details on why I actually quit my job.

Ta ta for now!