Bringing Home the Bacon…and Cooking it Too
Trading Corporate Ladders for Chutes and Ladders 
by Jennifer Brousseau

Working outside the home may not seem as enticing as it once did for some mothers once a baby enters the picture. Priorities can change for some literally in a heartbeat. The decision to become a stay-at-home mother is the only option some new moms even consider. 

Reports of neglect and abuse in child daycare can scare some new mothers. Even those with the proper ratio of child to caregiver will still give less attention than the one-on-one that a child receives in the home. The stark reality that our children are only young for a short while is more than enough reason for many mothers to choose to stay at home. In addition to this, choosing to stay at home with the children offers more quality time together, a direct influence on their early eating habits and making certain that they are receiving the attention needed especially in the early years.

“I am the biggest influence on their lives at this point, and I also want to be the best one. They are only this small once. I will never get these years back, and wouldn’t trade them for anything” writes Alison Rollins via email from Massachusetts. Rollins is a mother of three and co-founder of Five Blessed Bows, which creates elegant hand-crafted bows for babies and young girls. 

Killing three birds with one stone 
Once the decision to stay at home has been made, both parents may be happy with the arrangement, but still feel something is missing after the sleepless haze of the first few months with a newborn wears off. Some mothers want to do more but are unwilling to sacrifice time spent at home with their children. The different mental challenges once faced in the workforce pre-baby may still hold some appeal. Additionally, the extra income may help. Working at home combines the best of both worlds as it allows a mother to be present for every milestone, to earn money in a career she loves and it stimulates the mind in other areas. Robin Vierling, mother of four under the age of five in Missouri and creator of Total RnR, knew that staying at home was what she wanted to do, but after the birth of her fourth and final child, she was unsure what to do with her future. Turning a flair for sewing into creating a line of boutique children's clothing is what she has succeeded in achieving. Vierling is able to stay at home with her children, while working on her creations during her children’s naptimes and after the house is quiet in the evenings. 

Clocking in, clocking out
Now comes the tricky task of fitting it all into a 24-hour period and still finding time to get some sleep! Impossible? Not so, as many modern mothers are finding out with much relief. Sometimes it can take a bit of juggling of the already established daily schedule to fit work into the mix. But a stay-at-home mother is already an expert multi-tasker. Fitting in a few hours of work should be a piece of cake, right? 

Michele Bridges, a mother of two in Pennsylvania, discovered this so-called juggling act when she first began her now successful advertising agency and public relations firm, Bridges Media. She writes “My clients know that the children and I are a package deal. When my children were newborns, it wasn't odd to see them at committee meetings in boardrooms. They were passed around the room like the day's agenda.” Not willing to sacrifice time spent at home with the children but unwilling to give up a career of some kind is a choice made by today’s modern mother. It can often seem like shift work, working at one job only to be forced to clock out for the other. Fitting work into naptimes, late at night or early in the mornings can be tricky, but more often than not it is one of the only times of the day when the house is quiet and work can be done with little to no interruption. 

Who takes out the trash?
What about the unwritten rule that one of the jobs of a stay-at-home mother is the running of the household, one of the toughest and unpaid jobs out there? When some women say they want it all, the topic of who takes out the trash and other household duties often enters a grey area. This new breed of work at home mothers find that their workload has not diminished. Grocery shopping, doing laundry and packing lunches, to name just a few chores, often still falls plainly in the laps of the mother. But many wouldn’t have it any other way. These are responsibilities that are taken seriously by mothers, whether they work in or out of the home. 

“I do most of the housework, errands, cooking. My husband does all of the outside work. He really helps me out the most, just by watching the kids in the evening while I work on bows, or type letters. It's not perfect. Sometimes he's so tired when he gets home, all he wants to do is lay on the couch, but we work pretty well together most of the time” explains Rollins of the work share system implemented in her household. Gone forever are the days when men came home from work to have a hot meal and their house slippers waiting for them. The modern husband is hands-on, often taking over with handling the children so the mother has time to get some work done. 

Overwhelmed is the name of the game
At the end of a hectic day, one may wonder if taking all of this on was a mistake. Exhaustion can quickly set in while trying to fit a career into small pockets of free time throughout the day. Organization is often the key to making sure this one woman machine operates efficiently. Planning out the day and approximately how it should proceed can help stave off running around not knowing what to do next and when time for work can possibly fit in. 

Bridges writes, “Sometimes it’s hard to balance my schedule when a client wants to run a 3 hour meeting, but that means the child will be late for dance class. I have had to stand up in meetings and leave right in the middle, only to race back to pick up a child from school then get her ready to run her to ballet.” No schedule is perfect and the occasional blow-out diaper or needing to suddenly whip up a batch of Rice Krispy treats for an impromptu sleepover can sometimes throw a wrench into even the most efficient of mothers. 

It isn’t just about pink cars and reusable plastics anymore
The jobs available to stay-at-home mothers who desire to become work at home mothers are changing every day. Gone are the days when stay at home mothers simply held parties in order to sell Mary Kay and Tupperware. Now they are launching successful businesses out of their own homes. Opportunities are limitless and often what is possible is what you enjoy doing in downtime, perhaps cleverly hidden in a hobby. Cottage industries are becoming more common every day. The internet has been an invaluable source for many entrepreneurs. Vierling writes that online stores such as eBay have helped her reach a large customer base in a short amount of time. Whether it is operating a business out of the home, running a small cooking school to other stay-at-home mothers or freelance work, any stay-at-home mother has the opportunity to tack another entry onto her ever growing list of achievements. The notion of becoming a work-at-home mother is a win-win situation. It is full of possibilities as it doesn’t sacrifice time spent with family, brings in added income, and raises a mother’s self-esteem. 

What about mom?
An additional challenge of any mother especially those who have made the decision to stay and work at home is finding “me” time. All too often that little detail goes by the way-side in order to make time for the children, preparing dinner, work and being a wife. Sequestering off a few hours each week to take a long bath, get a pedicure or just have dinner with friends is crucial to recharging the batteries and maintains the happiness of the one with one of the toughest jobs out there, the mom.