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I’m thrilled to be doing a guest post for Maureen and I hope she’s enjoying her baby boy! I blog over at Teach Speech 365 and I’m going to strip away some of my anonymity for this post. Earlier this year, I also had a baby. If you noticed, I had several awesome bloggers who offered to guest posts for me so I could keep some fresh content going while I was a little…preoccupied…and tired. I thought, “why not blog about something that I am experiencing?” So here are some tips on balancing being a mom and an SLP — from one working mom to another.

I did return to work for a few weeks to finish out the school year, which for me, was a good decision. It allowed me to catch up on students who were dismissed, look at my projected caseload, and organize my room and materials (I know, call me crazy). Plus, with it being the end of the school year, a lot of the pressure was off and things were winding down.

When I return to work full time in the fall, I know it’ll be a balancing act. The days of bringing work home and doing hours of prep on the weekend are over because I want to spend time with my baby and husband. Here’s how I plan on accomplishing that:

  1. Go in early. I’m someone who would rather be there 45 minutes early to get some work done rather than stay late. Once my contract hours are complete, I plan to head out to pick up my baby and get home.
  2. Build in planning time. I typically try to do this, but it usually falls by the wayside. This year, in order to get things done during the school day, I need to stick to this. It may mean making some groups a little larger, but I need to have time to test, write reports, and such at work so I don’t have to bring them home.
  3. Plan by the month. I already do this (check out this blog post to see how), but I’ll be even more diligent about it so I don’t waste time planning at home.
  4. Don’t beat myself up. If my therapy isn’t always super fun or creative, it’s ok. This is hard for me to accept, but it’s necessary.
  5. Leave work at work and be present in the moment. It can be difficult to not let work stress affect home life. But I want to be present and enjoy every minute of my baby, as they’re only little once.

It’ll be a challenging year I think as I try to navigate this new territory. I know there will be bumps in the road, but I’m sure I’ll find my groove. I love my job and can’t imagine NOT doing it. I just have to figure out what the new normal is. To all new moms out there, we got this!

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Meet Maureen

Hey there! I’m Maureen Wilson, a school-base SLP who is data driven and caffeine powered. My passion is supporting other pediatric SLPs by teaching them how to harness the power of literacy and data to help their students achieve their goals…without sacrificing time they don’t have.

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