What It Was Like Growing Up With Working Parents

My mom was working 40–50 hours a week at a retail store and my dad was working 60 hours at another. They were making good money and grinding, they were doing what they had to do to get through. However, those facts do not make it easier for a child. It does not create a relationship where there seems to be none.

My mom was back to work exactly 8 weeks after she had a c-section was only allowed so much time off to heal and I was sent to a babysitter. It was what her job demanded of her if she wanted to keep it she had to go back to work the doctor could only excuse so much time off for her healing.

To me though they were not babysitters they were family it was my Aunt Lori and Uncle Ron even though they were not related to me at all I was raised to think the family was taking care of me and they might as well have been.

They would have family game nights at their house, watch the price is right, and sleep sometimes. There was a time when a cat gave birth on the property and it and its kittens sadly passed away. I remember having to take their family dog to be put down at one point in time and being so sad because to me that was my dog too.

I have faint memories of my mom picking me up off the couch with my blanket that I could not sleep without and putting me into my car seat to drive home. There were days when I was picked up earlier and would always be hungry and she kept strawberry Nutra grain bars in the car for me to have so I wasn’t grumpy.

I remember learning not to suck on my thumb anymore because my babysitter would rub them in nail polish remover. Which looking back on is toxic but I made it this far and I stopped sucking on my thumbs in just a few days.

I remember them so much more than my parents growing up which is really sad for me. I want to have memories with my parents and feel like we enjoyed my childhood together but the honest truth is we didn’t they provided for me and cared for me but could not be there for me and that is hard. As I got older my dad retired from his job and became half retired as he likes to say and started working part-time.

Now all of a sudden my dad is always around, for the most part, this was when I was 12 and already had so many years of feeling like was me against the world because I did not feel like I had a support system. My mom changed careers when I was 10 and became a college professor so she was home more grading papers a lot more.

It was great but the thing is by the time they wanted to be there for me I had already learned how to take care of myself. I became independent from them and to this day they hate it. My dad says I never talk to him enough my mom is more understanding.

I am 21 after all you cannot expect me to want to talk all the time but on top of that, we never did that when I lived there either so what can they expect. We never had this super close relationship especially not when you as my memory I can remember more bad times than I can good sadly.

It was hard growing up without the people around me that are meant to love me most. I do not resent them for it I know they did what they had to do to support us but it does make me wish I had better. That I had a mom who was almost always around or a dad that could come to all of my events but sadly I missed out on that.

I want to be there for my kids, I want to work part-time as they are growing up. Yes, it will take planning and saving but in my career, I can make good money even if I do not want to work full-time. That is my choice though, many people grow up with working parents and my experience could be different than others because my parents were working such extreme hours.

Thank you for reading!