Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Working Moms and Commuting

Prepare yourself for my ranting about wanting to work a commutable distance from my home in Manalapan, NJ.  


I have three little girls (7, 8, and 10) and need to find a job that is less than an hour commute from my home.  In case of an emergency or if the kids just get sick - they shouldn't have to wait in the nurses office for an hour and a half for mom to get there.  Dad is only 25 minutes from home and school - but he is an attorney and not always in the office - and when he is in court - forget about it. 


I was laid off from my last position because I didn't want to commute an hour and a half each way (up to 3 hours in traffic). 


When my girls were babies, it was much easier - they didn't seem to need me as much as they do now.  Especially my 10 year old - she seems to be needing me more and more.  Before I was laid off from my last position, I stayed home with her for two days  - she cried for 2 days straight.  She had so many reasons for being sad and depressed but I cant go into the details especially since my husband didn't even tell his family or best friend. I'm sure that they think I am a lazy slacker for taking two days off for no reason but obviously there was a reason.


She needed to stay home - she was in no condition to go to school - my husband couldn't stay home from work and grandparents wouldn't have understood what she was going through.  I lost my job a few days later - not because of taking the time off to be with my daughter but because I didn't want to commute 1.5+ hrs each way.


I was actually considering interviewing for a position which would take me an hour and 15 minutes with no traffic - so add another 30 minutes onto that with traffic. Would other moms commute that far? Are other moms commuting that far? 


And I was also considering NYC - What am I insane?  


My girls are number 1 - so it looks like I will be unemployed for a little bit longer.  At least I was never fired from a job - and so I am collecting unemployment for now. It's better than nada.



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