My parents spent the weekend in Ulricehamn helping me out with a mountain of washes and took care of the kids so that I could join my colleagues for a night out and so that I could do some work today (on a Sunday - L). I am going to be part of a Dutch documentary about emancipation in Sweden but currently I wonder what kind of role model I am? I think women in Sweden have come a long way but still our society is not equal and it is not because men are not doing the right thing. We all want to do so much and achieve so much in life that it becomes difficult to priorities and I am still not sure what I should priorities.
It is too easy to say that we should choose to take care of our children when they are young and have a carrier when they get older. I am not working to make a carrier but because it is fun, challenging and because I think I have something to offer. I am good at it! I don’t think I would be a good fulltime mother. I like to work and I want to work. And at the same time I want to be the mother the kids can count on and the one they can come to when they need to. Jochem is away this month and I am trying to give 100% at work (40 hours a week) and 100% to the kids but the pile of washes keep on growing, the house is getting seriously untidy and the garden needs a facelift. Thank god for parents who are willing to spend 6 hour in a car and a weekend cleaning at their daughters’ house (and they also work during the week!) They even brought a stew with them and filled up my empty fridge!
The puzzle of life is not easy and everyone seems to be struggling to find the right path. I don’t think it’s a simple solution to this but a number of possibilities. The question is which solution fits us the best? We work, have kids, try to keep the passion up in a relationship suffering from too little quality time, see friends and keep a little bit of social life and time is going so fast. Well, I guess this is true universal challenge. Are we fooling ourselves in trying to be the best in whatever field it might be – the best employee, the best parent, the best lover, the best cook, the best friend etc. In an individual society we need to be stronger and better. When is it OK to say that this is what I do and what I stand for and for the rest it – I need some help?
Well, I have no answer and it will probably take me some time to figure it all out. The only thing I know is that the older I get the more I realize how little I actually know but hopefully it makes me more flexible, more open to new solutions and more humble to other peoples choices!!
Time to tuck the kids in!!
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