Remote with my kids: It’s not easy being a mom, teacher, and employee

by Kelcey Moriarty on Mar 22, 2021 1

Let’s face it — learning from home hasn’t been easy on a lot of our kids, or us moms for that matter. 

From giving up recess and friends to battling WiFi mishaps and technology barriers, we really have to give the moms a round of applause for all that they’ve done. 

My sons are six and ten, two ages that require a LOT of patience and attention from Mom and Teacher. Although it’s always been wonderful to come home to my boys after a day at the office, I’ve found it difficult to navigate this work-from-home life while my kiddos are also working too.

And I’m not alone, according to the National Women’s Law Center, over 800,000 women left the workforce to look after their children between August and September of 2020. Trying to balance the demands of motherhood and the demands of a full-time career has, at times, been entirely too overwhelming. 

Sometimes I feel like I’m letting down my colleagues. Sometimes I feel like I’m letting down my boys. And almost always I feel my arms being pulled in opposite directions, all at once. 

The light in all of this is how wonderful our school district has been throughout the last year. The transition, albeit hard, was made easier because Portland has some fantastic leadership in education. We were already connected virtually before 2020, and they’ve offered classes and tutorials to teach parents about remote learning.

So I wasn’t surprised when I came across this list of the top cities for remote learning, and Portland was ranked third! 

Although I’m blessed with where I live, I’ve read countless stories from other moms trying to grapple with this new way of life. A word of encouragement: You’re doing just fine. It’s okay to be an imperfect mom and an imperfect employee. We are not superheroes, and we’re probably not going to teach third grade math as well as Mrs. Matthews. 

I can’t wait to kiss my kids goodbye at our bus stop, but for now, I’m just going to try and do my best with what 2020 and 2021 have given us. Who knows, remote learning may be here to stay in some form or another.

About Kelcey Moriarty

Kelcey was a college diver who loves her family, March madness, and cooking shows. She has a weakness for Five Guys Cheeseburgers and can be found teaching church nursery lessons each Sunday morning.