Episode 33: Going Back to Work, with Peg Theobald - CONFESSIONS OF A SUPER MOM WANNABE

Peg Theobald is a mom of two, a foster mom, a blogger, and she just re-entered the work force full time.

We talk about her decision to go back to work after being at home with her boys for several years, her process, her mom guilt, and even the pushback she got on social media when she announced her decision.

Peg gives great insight on the mommy wars online, and how she really had to process what being a mom actually LOOKS like when it comes to working, wanting to work, and being with her family.

I loved Peg’s vulnerability. It’s interesting how the ideas we get in our head about how things ‘should’ be can really affect us. Definitely find Peg online. She’s such a sweet soul.

Getting a job happened a lot faster than Peg anticipated. From the time she updated the resume to the time she landed a job, it was less than a month.

She had a lot of questions from friends and family about how and why she came to this decision. Her response was that she’s always wanted to work.
Peg sees her career path as an ebb and flow. She always wanted to have a career, but when she had her first son she had a lot of mom guilt around ever being away from him.

She credits her reentry into a full time job to Rachel Hollis’ message to fight mom guilt and pursue what you were created to be.

Peg grew up in a very conservative Christian environment, but she feels as thought she’s moved away from some of the ideals she grew up around.

Okay, it gets REALLY real right here. Peg and I both open up about something of an identity crisis we’ve had when it comes to being a Christian. We get honest about our shift from the ideals and the environment we were raised in that impressed on us that women were always supposed to stay at home and take care of the house and the kids.
She was taught that the godly way to be a mom was to stay at home and raise kids.

Peg even confesses that even though she believed women could work outside the home, she still judged women who did, even when she thought they didn’t “need” to.

Peg goes into the process of what it looked like for her to go from wanting to be at home with her boys every minute of the day to transitioning back into working outside of the home. Her husband has been very supportive of Peg working because that’s the model he had growing up.

She talks about the leap from staying at home to working full time, and she notes that she and her sons have so much better quality time.

When she doubted her decision (WE ALL HAVE DOUBTS!) Peg has a very good tactic for getting some perspective on mom guilt when it creeps in.

Tune in to find out what it is!

Peg would sometimes cry every day on her way to work, and she felt very alone. She even had family member voice their concerns and had to set some clear boundaries around that in order to protect her own heart. Support and encouragement was also found in somewhat of a surprising place.

There was one particular person who didn’t approve of Peg’s choice to go back to work, and she said so in some direct words on social media. Peg used this opportunity to show grace and confidence, and encourages women that whether you choose to stay at home or work full time, you can be a good mom.