How can you be a Mom and a Flight Attendant? I get this question all the time, and of course I can understand why people are curious and maybe don’t understand our lifestyle. Well, here is the answer, it is a great job to have if you are a Mom! Here are the most common questions I get:

• Who watches your daughter while you are away? Ummm, her Dad. I find it humorous that some people actually think this is odd. This is 2009, right? I wouldn’t have had children with a man who wasn’t going to be a parent to our child. Flight Attendant husbands make wonderful fathers, because they do get that one on one time, Mom is not there to interfere.
• Is it hard to leave your child? Well, yes. It is a bit hard initially, and then I get on the airplane and start having adult conversation…. and I get to my hotel room and watch TV…and it’s not Sesame Street…..and life is good, it’s me time: ) Here’s the thing, it was super hard when I came back and my daughter was only 6 months old, but it has gotten easier, she’s 2 now. I also never leave for more than 2 days, so if I check in on a Monday afternoon, I’m home sometime on Tuesday.
• Does your child cry when you leave? If so, how do you handle it? I am lucky so far, my daughter hasn’t been upset ever about my leaving. My husband and daughter usually drop me off at the airport and my daughter now says, “Mommy going to work…up in the sky.” When we get there she kisses me and that’s that, but I’m home a lot. I work about 8-10 days a month right now so I think that helps. She’s not in daycare, one of us is always home with her and usually both of us are home at the same time. (My husband is a Fire Fighter and works 2 days a week)
• Don’t you have to work weekends and holidays? I have 16 years seniority and seniority is everything in this industry! Even though 16 years isn’t real Senior in my base it is enough to hold weekends and holidays off. I do bid for holidays off but believe it or not I’d rather work weekends….the world is a bit too crowded on the weekends for me. I like to go to the supermarket when everyone else is at work;-)
• Are you afraid your child will resent you leaving her all the time? Not at all. In fact last week I had the pleasure of flying with a 5 year FA, who’s Mom is a 39 year FA! (I’m going to be doing a post on them soon) Anyway, she loved having a FA as a Mom growing up. She told me that she saw her Mom way more than her Dad who worked a regular Monday through Friday schedule, and that she was able to travel a lot too.
• Don’t you worry that you risk your life every time you go to work? I get this question a lot. I really don’t feel that I do. I truly believe that I am much safer than people who commute to their job by car everyday. We (airline folk) always say the most dangerous part of our job is the van ride to the hotel!

Hopefully, that answers a few of your questions. I am lucky to have probably the most flexible job out there! I pretty much create my own schedule, work as much or as little as I want to and when I’m done, I’m done…there’s no work to take home, and no matter how difficult a passenger is or even a crew member, all I have to do is get through that flight or trip and move on.
I love what I do and the flexibility is probably the most attractive aspect of my job, and as a Mom you need flexibility!