Women Coming Full Circle

The evolution of women seems to have come full circle. It was less than two generations ago that it was rare that a woman held a job, let alone her own business. It was less than twenty years ago that women slowly made their way into the workforce, some out of necessity and some out of wanting a career outside of the home. Women have since bridged the gap of working outside the home and staying home with their children by starting their own home-based business or even taking advantage of the new trend of telecommuting. The goal of working from home is to combine being able to stay at home with children and yet maintaining a career. It seems that this would be the best of both worlds yet; finding a balance to pull off working from home while juggling raising children is no easy task.

I relish the time that I get with my son. I love being able to start my day hearing his happy chatter over a leisurely breakfast, but it is not always the greatest. I found challenges as I transitioned to working at home. The first one was the adjustment period. I was not use to being able to flex my time, I was use to structure – start work at 8:00 am and work until 4:00 pm. Not only was I struggling to working out my schedule to maximize my time while allowing for the flexibility that drew me to working at home, but my son had some adjusting to do as well. He was accustomed to daycare and sitters during the day. Now, he had mommy home all day long and he equated that with playing with mommy all day long. When it was time for him to play in his custom play yard while I tried to get some work, my little angel, my heart, my happy little 1 year old, threw his first officially 1 year old tantrum. After a couple weeks of unproductive time spent trying to get work done while dealing with a very unhappy little boy I decide it was time to figure out how to make it all work.

Here are steps that I took to make work at home a better and productive experience for both me and my son.

1) After I set up my work goals, I estimated how much time I need to devote to my business to accomplish them each day.

2) I build my schedule around the existing schedule. For example, the bulk of my work is done around my son’s nap time, which gives me 2-3 hours of uninterrupted time.

3) I slowly incorporated the new schedule, giving both of us a chance to adjust to me working at home.

4) I set up time weekly for both of us to be out of the house. He goes to daycare for a half a day to play and I work, then after I pick him up we have an outing together.

Women are choosing to stay home to persuade their careers and their role as mother. It really can be the best of both worlds, here are a few tips and things to keep in mind:

• BE FLEXIBLE. Things happen, work on fluctuating your work schedule so that as things come up you can work around them.

• LEARN HOW TO MULTI-TASK. Many times I have a roast in the oven, laundry washing, while I am sorting mail and watching a movie with my son.

• TAKE TIME FOR YOURSELF! Now that your two worlds have merged you may find those “little escapes” such as being able to unwind after you get home, become difficult to capture. Hire someone to come in weekly for a couple of hours to give you some time to yourself. Someone to come in and help with the house work can free up your time for the important things that make working at home so appealing to you.

• ENJOY YOUR TIME. Whether it is the time spent working on your business or playing with your child(ren), enjoy the fact that you have the opportunity to do both without feeling that you have to sacrifice anything.

We are back to the time when women were able to stay home with their children, but with the added bonus of still being able to persuade our own career goals as well. As we are with our children helping them grow it to the people they will become, we are evolving, growing, and learning as well. Evolving into a new generation of women that do not have to choose between our family and our career; Growing into women that are learning how to have it all.