Since it’s Working Parent’s Day today, I thought I’d reflect on some of the things I’ve experienced as a working mom. To begin with; let me be honest and tell you that the transition from being a working woman to a stay-at-home mom and back to a working mom is a tricky one! I admit there is a sense of pride in being paid for one’s skills ( though you might make less money than you did before!) and returning to work, a lot of working moms face tremendous guilt by choosing to work after being home with their kids for so long. I started working as an executive editor for a film based magazine, the year my daughter started play school. Up until then, I had been a SAHM (stay at home mom!) for 3 years. Even though it wasn’t that easy re-starting all over again and re-learning to talk to adults, I loved what I did but I started missing my little daughter and our little baby conversations while I was at work. So after working with the magazine for two years, I decided that being home with my daughter is where I belong.
However, I did not give up my passion for writing, I wrote a few articles here and there and then I got an offer which was too good to be true. An offer to write from home full time! That meant I didn’t have to be away from my little one, while I could still have the satisfaction of being a working woman. Believe me, if there were more mother-friendly workplaces, more women would find a way to meld home and work and they would do it beautifully after all women are born to multitask!
I worked from home for the almost 10 years and over the years I’ve learned that although it is a blessing to be a work at home mom, the challenges are more. I might not be in the office physically but the deadlines are just as crucial. The other challenges are of course being a mom at work but from home! One needs to don many hats throughout the day! Besides the deadlines, the kids have needs so you take off your working mom hat for some time and don the chef’s hat, then maybe a tutor’s hat or a nurse’s hat, if you have a sick child at home, then you put your working hat back, until a friend or a neighbour rings your doorbell! One needs to learn the art of saying no kindly to your friends and relatives who drop by on a working day. In short, one has to be good at balancing work, family, errands etc. without losing your mental balance! However, the bonus of being a work at home mom is that I didn’t need to fret about what to wear to the office, I could be in my most comfy pjs the whole day if I liked and of course, the warm energy hugs and kiss breaks with my little daughter.
Even though being a WAHM was not as easy as it seemed, I consider myself lucky to have been able to do something I loved from home, while I got to be with my daughter at an age she needed me to be home and also got to open the door for her and give her a warm tight hug when she got back home from school! Am sure many of you had/have parents who were working or are working and you must have sometimes hated the fact that you hardly got to spend time with them. Thanks to the ever increasing expenses in the world today, more and more parents work to give kids the best education and best life. The positive side to that is an increased income for the family and also kids raised by working parents tend to become responsible and independent Besides women deserve a career too don’t they?.Write in to let us know how you felt as kids of working parents.
