Groups
WORKING From Home Discussions « back to group
-
She opened the door with a baby in her arms and her head tucked at a 45 degree angle with a telephone couched between her shoulder and her ear and then backed the door open as she stepped aside, with a slight nod of hello, to let her sister and myself pass into her large, gracious home. It was apparent she was trying to quiet a fretful baby by gently swinging and bouncing the baby in her arms as her brow furrowed and she bore down on an organizational issue for one of the large consulting companies - Accenture, as I recall. She had an MBA from an east coast Ivy League and four children under the age of seven.
"Aunt Linda!" the five year old squealed when she saw her aunt and jumped from her telephone book-padded seat at the kitchen table, knocking her plate into her glass of milk and spilling the liquid across the table in one fell swoop before rushing to throw her arms around her aunt's legs.
"Shhhh...," we scolded the toddler, trying to dampen her enthusiasm, with our index fingers to our pursed mouths.
"Aunt Linda, Aunt Linda! Look at the picture I drew in school today!" she shrieked as she pulled her aunt into the kitchen, pointing the way towards the refrigerator where her drawing had been posted and was on full display like a masterpiece in a gallery. Her mother, at the same time, was walking, kind of dazed-like, to the furthest point of the house seeking a quiet corner, her head still at its angle and the baby still in her arms, speaking reasonably and in a controlled voice to whomever it was she was speaking to.
Taking in the site of devastation at one glance, my friend opened the sliding door that led to the patio and, signaling towards the table and the outside with one of those knowing glances at me, recruited my help in silently picking up and wiping up the destruction before removing ourselves and her sister's other three children and their remaining foodstuffs to the outdoors where they could finish their lunch. It took about one minute before the door closed behind us.
We arranged the excited kids around the picnic table and put their half-eaten lunches before them and then sat down across from, and looked silently at, each other, knowing what the other lifelong friend was thinking. Both of us being working mothers, we understood what her younger sister was going through and had both wondered, to each other and to ourselves, at different times in our child-rearing careers, why it had to be so difficult. "Was it worth it?" was always the unanswered question.
A few minutes later her sister, hair disheveled and emotionally drained, slid the door open and gingerly stepped out, the phone in her pocket, baby asleep now in her arms.
"Thank you so much for that," she whispered as she acknowledged what had just gone on, "I thought I would lose my mind..."
"Wait. You still might," I thought to myself, and I still hold this belief, several years later.
I know many of you have been here, done this - what are your thoughts on this dilemma and how did you/are you deal(ing) with it?
"At work, you think of the children you have left at home. At home, you think of the work you've left unfinished. Such a struggle is unleashed within yourself. Your heart is rent." ~ Golda Meir
Maureen Sharib is a seasoned telephone names sourcer, names sourcing since 1997. She and her husband Bob own the names sourcing firm TechTrak.com and Maureen telephone-names sources daily as well as teaches telephone-names sourcing in her online telephone names sourcing course "The Magic In The Method." She can be reached by email at Maureen at techtrak.com or by phone at (513) 899-9628. Maureen will come on-site to your company to teach telephone names sourcing to your sourcers. The investment will make the valuable results your sourcers produce in the future inexpensive!
2 replies
Log in or register to post a reply.
-
I no longer work from home, but I did for a few years. I have five kids. The first year when I worked from home the youngest two were home full time. The key there was that my husband also worked from home and we took turns "running interference" for them.
It got tougher when he took another job, and the youngest was the only one home. At least with two kids they sometimes keep each other preoccupied.
During the summer my oldest (15 year old)watched the kids, but starting this year I put the youngest in preK school full time. Because it is really hard to participate in a conference call when a 4 year old wants to sit on your lap.
Is it worth it? Sure, if you can balance it. Some positions are different than others. But whether you take a job working at an office, or working from the house, you still have to count the cost. You may save money in gas, tolls, lunches and wardrobe, but if you cannot get the job done, you cannot get the job done.
So, my advice is you want to work at home, and you have kids, make sure you have a daycare or babysitter at least part time you can afford so you can get your work done normal business hours. It makes all the difference in the world.
-
You gotta be kidding me? NO WAY. Having no children myself, I can't speak for all the working moms that juggle career & family - more power to them.
But IMHO, any woman who thinks she can "work at home" full time because she can also do the full time job of parenting kids simultaneously at home is kidding herself (or himself for any dad's that subscribe to this insanity).
I had a pregnant employee associate who was very young and thought she could talk the boss into letting her take her job home so she could be a mom - NOT. She was doubly mistaken that working at home is also not a good idea for a young person (who needs in-person mentors, more experience & higher company visibility to keep the career-wheels greased).
Thinking you can work at home because it allows you to "be there" for the kids is simply compounding the problem and ever-changing priority shuffle. Good luck.
The demands of one's children, especially when they are sick or otherwise need priority attention would naturally take precedent over any work-related deadline.
The flip side is that people who work at home & make the necessary arrangements day care, at home au pair, grandma or other unemployed family member to "be there" has a benefit for children who can see their parent hard at work - and gain an understanding of work ethics, self-discipline, or even learn a little about their mom or dad's profession.
I'm an advocate of working at home - the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. I feel sorry for women with kids at home because they probably never get any sleep.
-
