Unscripted Moments of Motherhood Amidst the Spring Break Frenzy

As a working mom, the reality of Spring Break hits like a tsunami of scheduling conflicts and endless "Mom, I'm bored" echoes. You'll hear my own tales from the trenches in our Spring Break series finale, where I get real about the parenting high-wire act during school holidays. This episode is a must-listen for anyone who's ever scrambled to line up childcare or winced at the cost of daycare - I'm sharing the gritty details of my journey, the highs, the lows, and everything in-between.

This candid wrap-up not only shines a light on the systemic struggles working parents face but also revels in the growth and accomplishments along the way. I take a moment to appreciate the emerging personalities of my children and the beauty of their sibling relationships. Join me as I reflect on the ongoing quest for work-life harmony that so many of us are still navigating.

Takeaways

• Working parents face challenges in finding affordable and flexible childcare during school breaks.
• The cost of daycare can be astronomical and is often higher than rent.
• The United States lacks support for working mothers in terms of childcare.
• Having a flexible job and the ability to work from home is a blessing for parents.
• Watching children grow up and develop their personalities is a joy.
• Summer break can be a source of anxiety for parents.
• Upcoming episodes of the podcast will feature interesting authors and informative content.
• The podcast will also launch a how-to guide for podcasting, a resources page, and merchandise giveaways.

Transcript

Jenny Benitez: 0:02

good morning everyone. Happy friday. Um welcome to steel roses podcast. This podcast was created for women, by women, and this is the final episode in the spring break series. Um, so, uh, for those of you who've been following along all week, you have been hearing the uh, you know little challenges here and there and little some insights that have been um coming out of this week. Um, but for everyone just listening for the first time today, um, I was basically cataloging um my spring break and, uh the challenges that it brought um.

Jenny Benitez: 0:41

My husband and I both work, so whenever there's a large length of time where the kids won't be in school, it's always a little bit challenging. I do often, in those instances, reflect on what do other parents do in those situations. We're very fortunate where I work from home and I'm able to maintain my job still in in many ways, um, while taking care of my kids. But I know that's not the case for a lot of people and for everyone who has to leave their homes or who have jobs that are inflexible. If you're working you know, retail, or if you're working in a minimum wage job, if you're working in the food industry, there's often not a lot of flexibility and I've observed that quite a bit. Even in the construction industry, there is no in a lot of instances for the laborers, there's no flexibility given to them for allowing for time off or allowing for them to have to care for their children or their family. It's really unfortunate that so many people find themselves in that situation and I know that.

Jenny Benitez: 2:11

When I first was having my son, that was the first time I was faced with having to deal with childcare and the cost of it, and when my kids were younger and we had to have them in daycare, the cost was astronomical. The year 2016 through 2019, we were in dire straits because I believe the cost of daycare was double the cost of the rent that we were paying at the time. It was obscene. It really was. I think the United States if it's still this way, I think we might be one of the only or the few countries that doesn't provide support for working mothers. In that sense, it's really a tragedy when you first start looking into that sort of thing and you start researching what are the options. I was working in New York when I started having kids and I looked at the cost of childcare and there was no way I would have been able to afford childcare on my salary at the time, and so I had to rely heavily on my mother-in-law for support. Things kind of evened out a little bit, but it took years and it was. It was a struggle for a really long time of making sure we were paying bills, the rent, food on the table, but also, you know, you have to pay for the childcare costs. So it's just, it's a. It's a broken system, unfortunately, and it's a struggle that a lot of parents go through, and you know I do.

Jenny Benitez: 3:48

While this week was stressful trying to juggle everybody being home, I also do recognize how deeply blessed I am that I do work from home and I do have a flexible job and that I can, you know, log in early and get work done, and that there is a little bit of wiggle room for me during the day, which I am incredibly grateful for. I worked very hard to get to this type of a role, so it's just, I am very grateful for it, because I do know what the other side looks like, and it is. It is very it is very difficult, to say the least, so for that I am incredibly grateful. Um, it has been very interesting this week being able to observe my kids and just to see, like, how their personalities are developing and seeing the kind of little people they're turning into. My kids are the oldest cousins in the family. Everyone else's kids are younger, so mine are reaching those older children milestones. Mine are reaching those older children milestones, um, and they're phasing out of the baby playtime stuff. Um, one of the larger challenges when they were little and I worked from home was that, um, they you know they were little they needed really to be observed all the time. I needed to engage with them all the time and you know it was a lot. So now that they're older, they do go and play together, which is really nice. They also fight a lot too, but I guess that's just par for the course. But it is nice to see them growing up and it is a blessing that I get to see them growing up in our environment where we are down in South Jersey it's we have the space to be able to let them, you know, almost run free and and be able to be themselves and develop and grow, which is a phenomenal thing.

Jenny Benitez: 5:38

Um, for everyone who is also getting anxiety about summer, because this is another area where I immediately start to think to myself like what, what am I going to do? And then that usually balloons into what do other parents do during the summertime. Many of the other women moms down here that I am friends with. They have their nurses or they're working in the medical system, so they will do. You know it's called three days on four days off is what they keep referring it to and, um, they have like a solid block of three days where they have to work, so they only really have to, um, get childcare for their kids for those days at a time, and then they're off for a couple of days.

Jenny Benitez: 6:31

And it's funny because I remember they were telling me about it and I said I was like wow, I'm like that's intense, like I don't think that's fair. In my opinion, as a non-medical worker, I was like I don't think that's fair. Like you know, you guys are on for that many days at a time. Like that must be really brutal. And they all like adamantly defended it and they were like no, this is the greatest schedule. I would never trade this for anything because it gives me those four days of like being able to just be a mother and be home and take care of my family. And you know I never really not that I didn't look at it like that, I was just thinking about the intensity of those three days and what that must do to you. But everybody told me, like this is like the greatest schedule in the world, um, and then I started thinking about it. Because I work a traditional nine to five and I, because I work from home and because my job can be done remotely, I can work at all hours of the day, so my work when we're very busy will bleed into after hours quite a bit.

Jenny Benitez: 7:35

I have been working really hard over the past few years, as everyone has heard me on other episodes say, like to really cut back on that. I was very much one of those people. That was, um, very focused on my career and very focused on, you know, growing my career, and pretty much I will do anything to make that happen. Um, I will take on any projects. I will, you know, try to hit any goals. You tell me I can do it, um, and I have since changed my tune, um, I'm imagining that's because of the age that I got to, and, and the realization for me personally was, you know, seeing my kids grow up and missing things with them um was very hard for me. So I have since changed that attitude and I'm not as aggressively attacking things as I used to. Um, but for a very long time I did Um. So just interesting the shift there. Um for me personally, as I've grown into being who I am. Um.

Jenny Benitez: 8:40

But this week, in a nutshell, you know, was pretty wonderful. Um, it has eased some of my anxiety about summer. It has eased some of my anxiety about summer, although I will admit and I digressed I still am trying to think through what summer will be like when it's like nine or 10 weeks, whatever it is, of everyone being home at the same time. So I guess we'll see. I'll keep everybody posted on that, but I hope everybody found these little mini sodes this week uh entertaining, while we were all kind of stuck. Um, we will. I will pick the normal schedule up for still roses next week.

Jenny Benitez: 9:23

So we do have some great guests coming up, um very interesting authors that are going to be featured um featured in the spring series as well. So I think you'll find it very informative. Outside of the guests, the April one year anniversary celebration activities that are going to be forthcoming. You do know that the how to podcast guide is coming out. That guide is being broken into a basic package and a VIP package, both really great information in both packages. Um, that's going to be launching hopefully next week fingers crossed I can get all of that done.

Jenny Benitez: 10:01

Um, we have our resources page launching um in April as well. So, um, I have reached out to some organizations and some really great women um that do offer services to other women. So I'm going to have all of that um up on the website in April. And um, we're working on merch. So I have, we have our logo. I have the logo designed um and I'm working on and getting merch um put together. I'm hopefully going to be able to hit it for April, but we'll see to be able to do some merch giveaways. So I'm super excited about that too.

Jenny Benitez: 10:38

So more to come, but I greatly appreciate everybody you know hanging in there with me and listening along and just sharing in this journey with me. It is definitely an interesting ride, not right, it's definitely an interesting journey, because a ride would mean I'm passive or we're being passive and we're not, and I look forward to continuing on this growth path with all of you and bring information to all of you that you find valuable and really just being the voice that tells you that, whatever it is you're going through, you're not alone, and that there is a group here, there's a community that is developing for Steel Roses, that is here to support each other and be there for each other and make sure that you know that. We know you're doing your best and that's the best. That's the only thing you can do. So until next time, um, take care and we'll see. We'll chat again. Have a great day everybody.