Working and Mothering, Take 2 (or Children & Universities)

Tomorrow I go back to work for real. Wow.

And it so turns out that on our first day of teaching, the boys have the day off from school. Same thing on Labor Day (we teach that day). So in my very first day back to "working motherhood" after six years (I won't count the year at the school) I'm already having to struggle with the "home work" balance!

We've decided to bring the boys to the university since I can just come home with them after I teach my class. Not only that, though! I'm planning to bring Kelvin to class with me and have him speak Portuguese with the students who are learning it. Of course that's not the reason he wants to come -- all he really wants to do is help me with the projector, the computer, DVD player, screen, etc. (it's a "media room"). I'll let you know how it goes.

Linton is staying in dad's lab, watching videos -- good thing dad will be teaching a 50 minute class just down the hall. Both boys have already spent time at the computer in that lab and they've been to "dad's building" many times, but last Friday was the first time I took them to my side of campus so they could see my tiny office (shared with I-don't-know-how-many other part-timers) and the classroom where I'll be teaching.

They loved lots of things about our trek to the university: the parking garage (they LOVE parking garages) and its elevators, my intricate building and its elevators, and the gleaming building and classroom where I'll teach (especially Kelvin).

Why, oh why, though, people seem to think that children are slightly "strange" sight in a university campus? We didn't see a lot of people, but we did get plenty of stares. Mostly, smiles, particularly from students. When we were walking back to the car, this man who was walking alongside us on his way to the parking garage jockingly said:

"They're a little too young to be in college, aren't they?"

I'm not a witty person (unfortunately), so I couldn't think of anything smart to say and I just gave out a loud, non-genuine laugh "Ha Ha Ha!" And I felt kind of sad that I didn't know what to say. I thought of saying something lame like "Well, this is just bring your child to work day" for me, or something. Whatever. And I just felt defensive about being there with my children.

I'll tell you what, I LOVE bringing my children to campus. I always have -- after all, this is my second take at teaching and mothering. For the first two years of Kelvin's life I'd bring him to my office hours nearly every week and I "passed him" on like a baton to my husband K before class and retrieved him after, for three Spring (he was born in the middle of the first one) and two Fall semesters, two summer sections and one winter one.

And now it starts all over again. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I teach at 5 pm, so on those days I'll stay home, pick up the boys up from school at 3:15 and drive to the University where I'll pass them along to K who will drive back home while I teach. That's why I've added the label "Tag Team Parenting" (the title/theme of my friend Aliki's former blog) to the blog, as well as "Working Motherhood."

One more academic milestone linked to motherhood (bringing the boys to the university on my first day back teaching) -- the hard-core readers may recall I wrote a rather long rejected essay about this subject a while back. (I feel like re-titling that post, or, maybe finally editing/rewriting the essay and reposting it with more prominence in this here insignificant blog [ha ha! prominence and insignificance are pretty meaningless together]. I'm kind of glad it wasn't published because it doesn't say flattering things about my former department. It was all true, though. Oh, and because I continue to be insignificantly semi-anonymous! yay! Maybe I'm safer that way).

Well... still in the MARGINS, though. I have some more things to say about adjuncting, so I'll try to come back and do it some other time.

Now, I'm not yet done with my preparation for tomorrow's class (see! I shouldn't be blogging!), so I have to go do that...