Submitted by FitMom_LawyerMom

I am pretty new to this parenting thing. My little one is almost five months old. My significant other and I tried to have children for years, and finally, after some help from amazing doctors, we have our little girl.

We're both pretty career driven, so our plan had always been that I would go back to work after she was born. I love what I do. However, I was not prepared for the struggle I'd need to endure while I was at work dealing with annoying colleagues (also attorneys) or mundane things - some of which I once enjoyed in the past. Often I find that I'd just rather be home with my little one.

Leveraged from EJ Kafooples' YouTube Channel

​WATCH VIDEO from EJ Kafoople to hear about her time saving tip that can save you hours each month while building your children's self-esteem (and a few life skills).

Inspired by Jaclyn Perovich

This beautiful photo caught my eye on Instagram recently, and the caption was, well, captivating.  

Posted by "aupairworks", it described a goodbye to an au pair. And a thank you for taking care of her sons and "loving them like little brothers". Wanting to hear more about this story, I contacted Jaclyn Perovich, the mom of the little boys shown in the picture. She is an au pair consultant so had lots to share. She talked about her positive experiences as an au pair and with au pairs. The thing that especially caught my attention was when she said she'd told her au pair, "Thank you for letting me enjoy my children again!" He'd enabled her to focus more on her children when she's with them, instead of needing to worry about the more mundane things involved with caring for them. Attending Library Story Time with her younger son and going out on a lunch "date" with her older son are activities recently added to her calendar. We talked for a bit, and here's some of what I learned about au pairs.

Au pairs focus on your children when you're not with them so you can focus on your children when you are with them. In addition to keeping your children safe and engaged with life, they clean up their messes too. This means that they do things like feed your kids (and clean up afterward), pick up their rooms and play areas and/or help the kids do it, and keep the kids' bathroom tidy. (They don't regularly make your dinner or do your laundry or clean up after you, but they do give you more time to do those things.)

Inspired by Adam Rose

Are you a stay-at-home parent thinking about getting back into the workforce? If there is any question in your mind about whether or not now is the right time to jump back in, put those concerns to rest and take a look at the LinkedIn post below.

Submitted by This Irreverent Papa (@IrreverantPapa)

​I turned 30 when my wife was six months pregnant, and now our son is just over a month old. I am lucky enough to work for a company that provides four weeks of paid leave for fathers, but now that it's just about over, the thought of being back at work has me grunting with disgust.

I'm a rather excellent employee - if I do say so myself. But hell, I'm a millennial and the most important thing in my life is the stretch of hours from 5pm-8am and any vacation time I can swindle with my family in the fairly modest, yet perfect, 1,500 square feet of house we own. Work is my priority when I'm there, sure, but you're never going to see me staying in the office past 5:00 pm unless I have to. That's what laptops are for. I don't mind working from home, as long as I'm home.

Submitted by Laura Schreiber

I started down the path to become a working parent the week I turned 19 while I was a student at Barnard College. One of my sorority sisters set me up with my future husband. Even though that was back in April of 1996, it feels like Harlan picked me up in my dorm room yesterday. And changed my world. He was sweet, positively brilliant, and like no one else I had ever met.  

Around that time I also started thinking about a career in voiceover. Everywhere I went, people commented on my voice. It’s high and quite unique. But I was a serious student, and the field of voiceover was very different than it is today. It required in-person auditions, and, with my academic commitments, that wouldn't have been possible. So instead, I continued my studies and stayed in New York City to attend graduate school at Columbia.  

Harlan and I are blessed to have twins, Emma and Jack. All kids are expensive, and, from the beginning, these twins, who are more precious than you can possibly imagine, were also more expensive than we ever anticipated. From speech and occupational therapy to tutors, they needed a lot of support, which we gave them with smiles, hugs, and hope. Early on, I stayed home with them, but when they both needed to attend a private school that specialized in helping kids with language-based learning differences, it became clear that we'd needed two incomes to swing it.

Contributed by ​Daniel Lewis as published on The Dad Website

READ the STORY on The Dad Website.

Submitted by Jim Haselmaier

Managing personal and professional obligations is a challenge on a good day. When unexpected complications pop up it gets even harder to keep everything and everyone on track. You probably know what I mean; a meeting that runs late, a call from the school, realizing that you've got two different colored socks on as you prepare to meet with your customer, or, a family member that gets sick.

When someone gets sick at home, the challenges can mushroom into even more problems if other family members end up with the bug. And being sick yourself is often the worst because, in addition to feeling lousy, you start to fall behind at work and at home as the ratio of "doers" (aka "parents") to those needing attention (aka "kids") gets out of whack.

Submitted by Patrick Hickey, Jr

​The other day I was thinking about the fact that my dad had 12-year-old twin boys at my age. My parents spent their 20s working to provide for our family and raising my brother and me, while I spent my 20s going to college and establishing my career. Now in my early thirties, Josie Ann, my first child, is only five months old. My parents taught me so many valuable lessons, and I hope that I am able to teach my daughter a lot of them too. As my wife and I raise our little girl, we want to try to give her as many opportunities as we can while instilling some strong values. We want her to know that ... 

Last week we posted a question asking how working parents manage to get dinner on the table every night. Reddit's workingmoms subreddit came through with a varied collection of great suggestions, insights and encouraging thoughts which are summarized below. The comments have been paraphrased and rearranged. One theme that emerged is that mealtime is a great opportunity for everyone in the family to play a role when it comes to getting food on the table and cleaning up afterward. Hopefully you'll find ideas which helps your family enjoy mealtime more.