'I love being a mom': Heather Pereces balances being mother of six with a demanding job

UHRICHSVILLE ‒ Heather Pereces knows well the struggle that many women face in trying to balance work with being a mother.

Pereces and her husband, Cory Robison, have six children between them, ranging in age from 26 to 6, as well as a 2-year-old grandchild. Their youngest, Brooklyn Isabella, called Bella, has autism and requires regular sessions with therapists. They also have two teenage girls living at home.

At the same time, Pereces works as a district manager for the Par Mar convenience store chain, overseeing 13 stores in the region. The nearest is in Winesburg in Holmes County. On average, she works 55 to 60 hours a week, sometimes working at home until 1 in the morning dealing with paperwork. She visits one to two stores a day and is on the road a minimum of three hours each day.

"It's chaos all the time. I don't know life with quiet. I don't think I could handle a quiet night. I sleep with the TV on for noise," she said.

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Added her husband, "It's been hard. She's an excellent mother. That's always been her job. So, it's been different for the kids and for her since she started this. It's time management. There's never enough time in any day for any of us to accomplish what we want, but she does a good job. We could always do better, but we could always do a lot worse too."

"I love being a mom. It's my favorite thing in the world," Pereces said.

Family moved frequently

She grew up in Waterford in southern Ohio, near Marietta. She and her family lived in a variety of places over the years, including Georgia and Texas. They eventually moved to Dayton.

It was while they were living in Dayton that doctors told her that Bella was behind other children in her development. Bella had been born two months early, but Pereces thought she would eventually catch up. Then one day she went with Bella to preschool and saw how different she was from the other children. "I left there crying," Pereces said. Eventually, Bella began seeing a speech therapist.

About two years ago, a friend who Pereces went with to kindergarten offered her the district manager job. "I told her no, because I have Brooklyn and she needs a lot of my time," she said. But at the same time, her husband was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and ended up in the hospital. "We realized he wouldn't be able to do what he does anymore, so I called her back and told her yes."

They moved to Uhrichsville because it was centrally located to all of her stores.

Help from others

After they moved to Tuscarawas County, Pereces got to know Liz Thomas, service coordinator at Tuscarawas County Family & Children First Council. Thomas has helped a great deal in getting Bella the assistance she needs. Before she met Thomas, Pereces said she was "ready to throw in the towel."

She is also thankful for the assistance she gets from her mother, Debbie Lilly. Lilly moved to Uhrichsville to be with her family. "I could never do what I do without my mom," Pereces said. Added Robison, "Especially when it comes to Bella."

Lilly takes the children to their appointments and gets Bella off the bus every day.

Balancing act

How does Pereces balance work and being a mother?

"I have to cut myself off from work because it was hard for me to accept that no matter what I do, my job is never going to be done," she said. "You can't just clock in and clock out of this kind of work. It's never finished, no matter whether I worked to 10 o'clock at night or 1 in the morning. So, I started telling the kids I'll try to be home by 5 or 6 every night, and I do try. I'm not always home by 5 or 6 every night, but I really do try.

"We try to have dinner at the table together at least once or twice a week, even if that means pizza. But I do try to cook for them once a week because that was one of the things one of my teenagers said she missed the most was me cooking for her."

Looking out for wildlife

Her maternal instinct is strong. One time, when they were living in Minerva about 10 years ago, they were driving along the road when she spotted an injured wild turkey, Robison recalled. She got out of the car, wrapped the turkey in a blanket and took it home for the night until they could get it to a wildlife sanctuary the next day.

On another occasion while they were living in Minerva, she stopped to pick up a squirrel that had been hit by a car. The stunned squirrel came to while she was driving home in a van with three of her daughters.

"It stuck to the roof of the car, and the girls were all screaming. It started going all ninja squirrel all over the van. It was terrible. It kicked us all out of the van," Pereces said.

"I don't pick up squirrels anymore."

'I just take it one day at a time'

What advice does she have for working moms?

"I just take it one day at a time," she said. "I listen to books on Audible a lot for my own piece of mind, because sometimes you just need to escape your own world a little bit.

"I love these kids. There isn't anything I wouldn't do for any of them. I wouldn't change any of them. Is Brooklyn a challenge? She's explosive. One little thing can set her off in a tantrum that could be hours long. It makes you cry because you want to help her, and you can't. It's very hard. It's a lot, but it's worth it and rewarding.

"I think just take it one day at a time and try to find a balance between work and kids. You have to make yourself find that balance. And it's not one and done. I have to make myself find that balance again every week."

Reach Jon at 330-364-8415 or at jon.baker@timesreporter.com.

This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: 'I love being a mom': Heather Pereces balances being mother of six with a demanding job