Other Doors

Enjoyed lunch with my ex-colleagues a couple of days ago. One of them has tendered her resignation to become a stay-home mum. She shared that she already had offers from her friends to do freelance work for them. i jokingly told her to also volunteer with her daughter's school so that she won't be bored :)

Full-time homemaking is not for everyone. However, sometimes circumstances call for it and mummies would just have to make the best out of it. One mum i know freely admitted to me yesterday that she is not the domestic type (she hates tidying up, lol.) BUT, she is happy to forgo career advancement and be a stayhome mum, at least for now, till the youngest of her 4 kids is old enough to go to childcare.

Many stayhome mums i know take the opportunity to pursue their passion or try out new things which they otherwise wouldn't have tried if they continue to be working mums. One mum clinched a deal to sell a particular brand of school bags; another ran a food stall for 6 months before calling it quits; another responded out of curiosity to a local bookstore to do stocktaking for 3 days and survived the back-bending hard work to tell the tale, and many others more.

It's not that stayhome mums are so free lah. It's just that as the kids grow and spend more time in school, some will gradually think of how best to make use of the free time.

For myself, when Ewan turned 2, i took to jogging and haven't looked back since. i haven't till then exercise regularly. The most was aerobics class with my colleagues which were VERY irregular depending on our schedules. i also started to teach children's bible classes at my church, later on also involved in the church bulletin and magazine. Ah yes, not forgetting, i also started to blog. Then when Ewan entered Primary School, i started volunteering in a reading programme and helping out at the various school functions. i also started freelancing - conducting family life programmes at schools, prisons and organisations.

Had i been working, i'm not sure if i would have carried out all the above activities. For one, i wouldn't have the time and energy! But because i carried out the above, many other connections were made - i met many people whom i otherwise wouldn't have met if i continued in my ex-line of work.

This morning, i was at school as part of the school's "partners" to be interviewed by a panel who awards schools which work very closely with various stakeholders like parents, alumni, school board, community, etc to impact strongly on the child's education. i must admit i didn't prepare for the interview, not that i would know what questions they will ask. i briefly looked through the principal's presentation slides before this morning, but i didn't expect to be so impressed by the secondary school's board of directors, their alumni, school principal who were all at the interview sharing their experiences on how they partner the primary school to create a ONE school experience (from primary to secondary) for our boys.

What was my point huh, lol. My point is, i am more involved in my sons' education (not just the academic part) because of my being a parent volunteer. i hadn't volunteered to have instant access to teachers and principals (far from it, lol, i wouldn't know where to put my face should my boys misbehave). i told the interview panel this morning, that many parents like myself volunteer to "pay-it-forward". The school has done much to educate our boys, we parents can chip in to be of service to other boys.

Be it being an entrepreneur or a volunteer or an exercise fanatic, stayhome mums do have other doors open when the door to paid full-time employment closes. Many of these doors are doors to inspiration. Go look for them!

:)