There’s a heck of a lot to project manage when you’re a mom and I’ll be the first to vouch for that. Combine everything you have to do for the family at home with work and you have a recipe for chaos. But I’m not necessarily knocking this chaos. Just a year ago, I wrote “To Work or Not to Work” over at ScaryMommy.com where I voiced my regret about leaving my full time job when my first child was born. That post garnered 90 comments, and I loved reading every single one. Most women applauded my honesty and some knocked for me not enjoying my time at home with the kids as much as I should have.
Since writing that piece, I’ve thought a lot about work/family balance. Personally, I think that my work makes me a better mom. I’m happier having my independence, financial freedom and I’m sure I’m a happier, more pleasant mom than I would be otherwise.
I went back to work when my kids were 1 and 2. I knew that I wasn’t cut out to be a SAHM, but it hasn’t been easy since. Since giving up my full time job before my first child was born, I’ve never completely regained my footing in my industry. I have always taken jobs that allow for flexibility and I’m not sure that working part-time is the answer either as I am always the last one to be taken seriously in the office.
Working partly from the office, partly from home has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that I can be around for anything I need to be for the kids. The disadvantage? That I can be at anything for the kids! It’s hard to balance everything, there’s no question about that. Some days I want to pull my hair out.
When I look around at all the fabulous moms online, I see great examples of other working moms and I try to take mental notes at how well they are handling the daily juggle. So, over the next few weeks, I’d like to explore just how these women do it, and the eternal challenges that working moms face. I’ll be posting guest blogs, as well as my own thoughts about working moms and the challenges that we all face, and I’m hoping to start a conversation about how women are managing in 2012. We’ve certainly come a long way since the 1950s, but why isn’t it easier than it is?
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Motherhood is like a cat with 9 lives. Unfortunately, we’re required to live all 9 at the same time:)
This will be so very interesting…I always feel women out there know something I don’t.
It feels that way, anyway.
Thank you for this series…I really am looking forward to picking up some sort of tip: even one would help.
Very excited to be a part of this. But I’m not quite sure that I DO do it 🙂
Excellent idea, and excellent question. Why isn’t it easier? I will definitely look forward to reading this series!
What an awesome and timely series. Then again, mothers have been searching for a work life balance for, well, forever. I like to think of us ALL as professional jugglers. Also, I love Selfish Mom’s comment (she’s very very smart!)
So happy to be part of this! And thinking about what I want to write, I’m struck by the fact that much of my success has a mom has been based on not giving a crap about what other people think as much as possible. Not sure how that happened, but OMG I’m glad it did.
I look forward to reading more. I don’t think balance truly exists. Or it does, and then it changes. Sometimes I take great pleasure and comfort from coming to the office, other times I am enraged that I can never be there for my kids’ activities. Full time work, plus a commute, plus managing a kid with special needs leaves very little time for myself.
It’s always hard to find that balance — and making compromises is part and parcel of life as a working mother. When my children were babies, I wrote about what happened when I tried to do both at once for Working Mother magazine. http://bit.ly/zMA73I . The piece was called “My So-Called Career,” and it tells the story of what happened the day that I was home with the kids and Francis Ford Coppola called. Now that my daughters are teens (one in college), I still feel drawn between work and minding the children. It never ends!
I look forward to reading the dialog you’re planning.
An age-old question, and I’ll tell you one thing – that’s good branding right now. I just received a pitch for a promotion for a movie of the same name. Good job! Don’t pull out your hair – they’ll be grown soon, and you’d be sad if you were bald by then.