“I Quit” is an ongoing series of posts where women share the reasons for leaving their jobs. The series was started in 2021 during the pandemic.
As told to SaveYourSelf.biz
Like a lot of other mothers, I quit my job to be with my son. Unlike a lot of other mothers, I didn’t quit after he was born or when he was still in diapers. I waited until he was entering high school, an incredibly pivotal, busy and stressful time as he prepares to attend college in four years.
For high school students, the insane process of applying for schools, taking college prep tests, filling their schedules with as many top-tier courses as possible and scoping out the perfect activities to set them apart from other students is extremely intense. That is also the case for the parents. As any parent with a college-track teen will tell you, preparing to get your child into a good school starts years before the first keystroke hits a college application.
Like many parents, we have been setting up our son to handle the rigors of high school since his first year of middle school. Since sixth grade, my son has been hearing about the need to have lots of tools in his toolbox to be attractive to colleges and to succeed in life. He plays two instruments, he is a pretty decent artist, he plays basketball and golf and he gets good grades. We hope these tools can be used to get him into a good school.
I realized about midway through his middle school years that I would need to shift my work life to better support his high school endeavors. I was traveling several times a month for work, while my husband’s job kept him closer to home, flying solo and handling many of our son’s logistics. I would often have to race from a flight to get to one of our son’s activities, arriving just in time to see him in action. While my husband was left doing much of the heavy lifting, I often felt guilty and a little bit jealous, to be honest, that my husband’s schedule allowed for more parent-son time.
We spent about one year preparing for me to stop work so I could spend the next four years at home. We always think of younger kids as needing the most hands-on mom, but I wanted to take this time now to be hands on. These are his last four years at home and I want to cherish each day.
So, I quit—no, I stepped back for a little while—to help my teen navigate the next four years of high school and prepare for college.
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