Pointer to video featuring Jas Kaur Jas Kaur, mother of four, launched Goodwill Glasses last March (2017). As a working mom she strives to help others while setting a good example for her children. She tells her story in this very short video (< 2 min). This article tells her story too.
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Sisters First was written by Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush
Lately I've been watching YouTube videos while exercising, and recently I stumbled across some very entertaining segments featuring the Bush Twins, Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush, daughters of former president George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush. These young women (now 36) have been on tour promoting their new book Sisters First: Stories from Our Wild and Wonderful Life. They are highly entertaining, and I especially enjoyed their Nov 8, 2017 interview at the Reagan Library.
After watching a number of their interviews, I started to wonder if I really needed to read the book, but finally decided to buy it in an effort to encourage them to keep the stories coming. And I'm glad I did. It's entertaining, informative, and touching, and there are quite a few stories in the book that haven't been shared via the interviews. The reason I mention it within the context of Working Parent Stories is that I think it provides a valuable example of how a parent's career can not only enhance a child's life, but how it can shape it as well. It's probably not surprising that these young women's lives have been shaped by their experiences as "first daughters", but their stories seem to present a suprising case for the value a working parent's career can provide to his or her children. The interviews left me wondering if their childhoods were almost too good to be true, and while watching them I even started to feel a little like a slacker parent, but the book does a great job of painting a more well-rounded picture of their family life and a portrait that I personally found encouraging and inspiring. This is a collection of stories that are likely to encourage working parents everywhere. If you ever wonder if your career is helping your kids, I recommend you read this book or at least watch one or more of the videos. The stories are likely to bring you comfort and they may even inspire you to find new ways to be sure that your career is influencing and shaping your own children in a positive way. Happy reading!
Submitted by Kathryn Twine When I returned to a part-time work role after taking a break to look after my young children, I was offered a full-time role. Striving to achieve balance in my life, I asked about the possibility of doing the work part-time. “We don’t think that would work,” was what I was told. After a long decision-making process, I gave up the job and went in search of a position that would provide the flexibility I wanted. I found an advertisement for a job at the Louisa Fleet Recruitment Consultancy and couldn’t believe my eyes. After a quick interview process, I started a new part-time, flexible recruitment role the week after my youngest daughter started school. I had enjoyed the time I spent looking after my children full-time, but I get a different kind of satisfaction from being at work every day. My children know I care about them deeply. They also see mummy working beyond our home, and early indications are that they admire it as evidenced by my daughter's recent statement, "When I grown up I'd like to help people find jobs just like mummy ... or maybe be a ballerina." (I can't take the credit for the ballerina aspiration though :) People ask me why I work. We all have days where we don’t feel like working, and sometimes I’ve been working around the house for four hours before I start my recruitment work, but I feel lucky to have a flexible job doing what I love. I like that my kids can see that I go to work on good days and bad days, and I hope that one day my example will provide the reminder they need to persevere in a challenging situation. Friends and family see that I have a great job that fits in perfectly with family life. But what they don’t see is the rush every morning as I get the kids ready for school, start the laundry, make the breakfast, do the dishes, and take the kids to school before starting my recuitment workday. Working from home may sound like a luxury, but I am often too busy to notice where I’m working. I’ve got a limited number of hours to get the recruitment work done before I need to log off, divert the phones, jump in the car, and be at the school gate with a smile on my face! On good days I can get home in time for a cup of hot tea, help with homework, prepare dinner, help with baths, and put the kids to bed. Other days I need to squeeze in a supermarket run to be sure everyone gets dinner! Flexibility goes both ways so I sometimes find myself working in the evenings and after school to be sure everything gets done. I’m willing, able, and happy to do it. Because without a business, I don’t have a job at all. And I like my job.
Submitted by Jessica Duff It happens to most of us working parents; the dreaded after hours text question from your boss. Or worse yet, a group text conversation with several managers. You know you should respond because, well, it's your boss! As a parent, you weigh the cost of losing precious time with the kiddos knowing that your response will likely get you involved in a 20-minute back-and-forth conversation as you strive to hash out an "urgent matter". Or should you ignore the conversation in the short term so that you can deal with it later, after the kids are in bed? I've faced this dilemma quite a bit lately. I strive to deliver high value at work to help my company succeed, but balancing my career with my role as mom can be so tough! One of the more valuable benefits a company or manager can provide to working parents is to respect their work at home. A manager who understand when an employee needs to say "no" to work and "yes" to cuddles, bath time, reading, bedtime prayers, and other memories and feelings children will draw upon in the future will usually cause an employee to develop a strong sense of loyalty to the company. Because, when it’s all said and done, being a parent is the best and most important job of all.
Pointer to an article by Kathy Macaraeg - Volunteering at our kids' school was always an enlightening experience. One night at dinner my husband was discussing his plan to visit our daughter's elementary school the next day. He'd be working as a volunteer with a small group of students in the library. She warned him that some of the students in the group caused problems for some of the other volunteers, so my husband told her, "Well you'd better let them know that there's a new sheriff in town!" We still laugh about that conversation. The meeting went pretty well, but afterward he admitted some of those kids were pretty challenging. Volunteering at school often provided us with unique insights into what our kids were experiencing and learning. We could see for ourselves what we going on, and it didn't always align with the stories they were telling us at the dinner table. Sometimes the two of us shared a volunteer slot which was easier to manage, but there was no getting around the disruption it caused to our work schedules. Still, we knew we were lucky to have jobs that enabled us to do it at all. Some working parents don't have jobs that provide that kind of flexibility, so they may find this article helpful and encouraging. It offers suggestions for parents who aren't able to take a break in the middle of the day: How To Be Involved At School When You're A Working Parent.
Submitted by Sherene Abrahams - "I've let go of the idea that I need to be just like everyone else." Before my children were born, I assumed that I wouldn't work outside the home after they came along. I figured that a part-time work schedule wouldn't be an option, and I didn't want to work full-time. But things don't always go according to plan. When my eldest was 9-months-old, I was given the opportunity to return to work on a part-time basis. I was told that I could work from the office two days/week and from home one day/week. I accepted the offer, held the job for five years, and even had another baby during that time. When my eldest started school, I was ready to make my career a higher priority. By that time I could do my job with my eyes closed. It was easy and convenient for me as a working parent. But it was no longer challenging. I found a new job that sounded perfect; there were shorter hours, it was closer to home, and it was a step up on the career ladder. Unfortunately, it didn't go as well as I hoped it would because it just wasn't a great fit for my skills. But luckily, after nine months on the job, I found and landed my dream role. It was closer to home, super flexible, and involved work that I love. While it took some adjusting to find the right fit, I'm happy to report that I've found it and am balancing my roles at home and at work. Here's how I do it.
In an attempt to help other working parents, I created The Working Parents Hubshub. This site, which currently serves parents in Australia and New Zealand, helps working parents find services they can use to achieve better balance between their families and their careers. It is also a place to share tips and experiences with other working parents. We share lots of great info on our Facebook page also, and we even have a small Facebook group dedicated to discussing these things in more detail.
By Pamela F. Lenehan via Mother.ly and FairyGodBoss - "I talked to grown-up children who were raised by working mothers." This article contains insights based on conversations with grown-up children raised by working mothers. According to them, their mothers prepared them well for successful, well-rounded adult lives. And this was especially true for daughters.
Pointer to the Digital Motherhood site - "Children learn different things from different people, so recognizethat while they learn ... An interview with our editor that was published on the Digital Motherhood site. Read the interview.
Pointer to a blog post by Dr. Sandy Fiaschetti - "It was no big political statement or anything controversial ..." Dr. Sandy Fiaschetti, a working mom with five kids, won an award, but she didn't accept it. Read why in her recent blog post.
Submitted by Shannon Mika - "Some friends help us shift our thinking ..."
My husband and I have three boys. The first can legally drink, the second wishes he could, and the third is a decade from it. Not only are the boys spaced across fourteen years, none of us shares the same two biological parents. Our first is a product of my husband's first marriage which ended in divorce. Our second is the product of my first marriage which ended after cancer killed my husband. And our youngest – he was the product of this blended chaos! Like any house, there’s always lots going on under our roof. Oh, and not only am I the Mom of this tribe, the Director of Operations for this household, I work full-time too.
Frequently I find myself talking about motherhood with other moms. And guess what? As different as we all are, we’re not all that different. Through it all – the joy, the heartbreak, the guilt, the laughs, the tears, the fear, the days we’re hanging by a thread – it seems to me that we’re all just doing the best we can! I suspect the dads feel the same way. Even so, I can’t help but feel a little (okay, a lot) guilty about what I do or don’t do. But I’m working on that. A while back, a friend posted something profound on Facebook. She said she's trying to frame life with gratitude instead of guilt. Easier said than done, right? Maybe not. The trick is simple, she’s started replacing her “I’m sorrys” with “Thank yous.” Instead of saying, "I'm sorry I'm late" she says, "Thank you for waiting." Instead of saying "I'm sorry I'm such a mess" she said, "Thank you for accepting me unconditionally." This switch has really stuck with me. And once again, it struck me; we all learn from each other. Some friends help us shift our thinking, some accept us on the "messy" days, and some help us understand that we're all just doing the best we can. And most days, that's good enough.
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