where are you from Tina
um i'm from Maryland and um i have one son who's
months almost sixteen months old are are you married or
yeah uh-huh i have i have two children i have a seven year old and a three year old
you are
oh
and uh so i try to spend as much time as possible with them
that's good uh what kind of things do you do
well um
we
we do a lot of things with them you know Taylor Taylor my youngest is or my oldest is in school and so she has a lot of school programs and things like that
oh
how was it a big change in your life to uh have a child
oh yeah
um yeah it's really nice uh my husband uh um is is working most you know most of the time he's working long hours but uh
uh-huh
i'm staying home
uh-huh
uh i'm just working a couple days a month and um
oh uh-huh what do you do during those those days
um we we spend a lot of time at the playground and we go to the zoo and we go and we watch
yeah well you said you said you worked a couple days a month though what do what do you do
yeah yeah
i'm a nurse
oh are you
so yeah so it's it's it's real easy to work out my schedule you know to uh get in to to still
uh-huh
stay in with that an and to have enough time to spend with Matthew he
yeah
yeah
he's uh just now really starting to to get interested in a lot of things so um
yeah i understand that yeah
they really grow up quick especially at that early age
yeah
but my my wife was uh she worked part time when my oldest was was little and now she's staying home all the time but uh that worked out really well because it's a big transition i think to have children
oh yeah
you know to go from you know nothing you know if you want to do something every night that's fine but when you have children it doesn't work that way anymore so
that's right and i think a lot of people are um are turning to
well i think i think a lot of people are realizing that but still there are so many people that are you know have their careers first and it's uh i think it's really hurting the
yeah yeah
yeah i agree with you i
the kids you know but
i i think that
my wife leaned that way and i'm really glad she did and you know i'm glad she's staying home but you know i know there are some days when she wishes she wishes she was back at work
i know
that's why i like to to work to work a couple days i think it's uh
yeah
it gives me a break
yeah well see that's that's why i'm glad my wife did too because she worked either two to three three days a week and that got her out of the house and yet she'd get to spend you know
three or four days with yeah yeah and so
most of the time at home yeah
uh we had started out like that and um i think that was
really ideal uh
yeah i do to i agree but then when you start having two of them it's you know a little bit tougher
it's
yeah
because you've got to make a little more money to make that payoff and stuff
yeah yeah
it's difficult but
are are you from the Maryland area
uh-huh i'm i've i've lived here forever so
really
yeah i'm in i live in Germantown and uh are you where are you from
um uh i'm in Dallas Texas
in Dallas oh
yeah
so uh i'm i've lived here like eight years or so my wife's from Fort Worth
oh uh
but
yeah i work for Texas Instruments
okay oh so that explains well um i don't know i uh
yeah that explains it doesn't it
we we do a lot of things on the weekends together the family but uh
yeah yeah
but as far as during the week it's it's usually uh you know just my son and i and we're
yeah
what's your husband do
uh he he works for Coca-Cola
uh-huh
so he uh
he manages a plant out here an and it takes a lot of time
oh
oh yeah i'm sure it does
but um
it you know we take walks and go to the library and try to fill our day with things like that but um
uh-huh
yeah
yeah what uh my wife did some teaching at like uh
like a private tutoring place
oh
a Sylvan Learning Center this year and so that that got me to spend to be able to spend more time with the kids at night and stuff
oh
because normally if if they need something they just go to mom
yeah
no matter what it is i mean i could i'm perfectly capable of doing it for them but
right
it's so much easier to go to mom i guess they get used to it
so but you know we'd go to the library and do things like that yeah but
that's good
that's good i know my husband was real uh in the beginning when he uh he was transferred to a a larger plant and he um
but
he works about an hour and a half away from here from our home and uh so it takes him a little bit of time and
oh yeah
i'm not able to work during the week uh because of that he was i was working in the evening and he was coming home and i i could go to work but uh
uh-huh
yeah
their relationship uh when i was able to work in the evenings uh really grew he you know just the time that they were spending together
uh-huh
yeah
i think it it really it really helped to have that time together
uh-huh it really does because i think you you know you grow closer was your uh was your husband i mean naturally a child i mean had had he been around children
uh oh yeah he has uh he has seven other brothers and sisters and they have
oh
we have thirteen grand well his parents have thirteen grandchildren
uh-huh
so it's uh
you know there's a lot of kids in the family and and he really enjoys it but uh right now it's kind of a difficult time but
yeah
yeah
yeah
and and the cost of living here is just so tremendously you know outrageous um
yeah yeah
it's difficult uh to do it any other way
yeah i understand
yeah
um you know it's it's hard because then
you're not getting to spend as much time with at home i mean your husband is not getting to spend as much time at home as he'd want to
that's right
so yeah that that's a tough situation but then then again you know some you got to do what you got to do
yeah
you know to get along too so
yeah yeah at least i i just consider myself blessed that i can stay home it uh
uh-huh well well like i said my wife normally feels that way there are days when uh i come home and she says here take these kids i'm getting out
i know
so she's she's had about enough during those days
i know
but but for the most part i you know i've really feel like that's led the way that you know what just like what you said with the cost of living and everything i think a lot of people can't afford to get by on just one salary an
yeah
and won't
yeah
and so i think that's led tended to lead to a decline in in families and family values especially
oh yeah it has
and i really think that that's one of the problems the nation's facing that you know we need to do something about but i don't know what
i believe that too and i think uh
the kids are where they need to you know they need to really focus on the children in the world in this
yeah
country
yeah would would you have said that a couple of years ago
do you think
no i didn't i didn't even really think about it that much i mean you know i knew i was aware vaguely aware of it but um i didn't it wasn't really that important to me and uh
uh-huh
uh-huh
it's amazing how your whole focus on life changes after you've had a child
oh it it really does i just the whole uh
you know seeing how you really are creating are are forming this you know the mind
uh-huh
well you know in the next year or so you'll see so many instances where you know he'll mimic something that you've done and you see you know everything i'm doing he's learning from
that's right
and and you think if i wasn't here he'd be learning that from a babysitter or from a day care
yeah
you know they that's how they're developing their patterns and i think a lot of people either don't care or don't realize it you know that's
or or they just put it in the back of their mind and let it slide i
yeah
i've seen a lot of people just say well you know he'll learn everything when he gets into
yeah eventually
uh you know
yeah it's true
but it um
i i know even just this first year that i've been with uh my son here here um he's i can just see how much
of of a difference it makes staying home with him instead of uh
yeah
yeah plus plus i think it becomes part of you part of you too i mean you get to stay home i mean it's not just for him but it's also for you because you're both kind of bonding together there too i think so
yeah
that's true
yeah
well it's been nice talking to you
well it's nice talking to you too
okay good luck okay good bye
okay bye bye
