I had a dream. I would grow up, I would meet my Prince Charming, I would get married, become a Princess and would ride off in the sunset to live happily ever after.  Then I grew up to realize we live in America, a non-monarchy society, so I revamped the dream.  I would grow up, meet my true love, get swept off my feet, get married, have babies and live happily ever after, in pure maternal bliss.  So ok, the later happened.

However, we live in a time much different than our own parent’s time, just like our kids will live in a different time than ours.  I was raised by a full time stay at home mom.  And with three of us filling her days with school, play dates, after-school programs, extracurricular activities, and all of the household responsibilities, well, I am befuddled how she was able to make a home cooked dinner every night, let alone fathom how she could have squeezed in time for an additional job.  There just wasn’t enough hours in the day.  Plus, for the most part women if they worked, quit their jobs once they had kids to be home to raise them, there wasn’t much option.

For me, well, I was torn.  As women today we were raised to be career driven, to be able to stand on our own two feet financially, and to really thrive and make a huge difference.  So I have worked, and worked.  My husband and I both work, and we both work hard to love the life we have. When it came to working and having a family, as much as I loved the career and work aspect of my life, I also wanted to be there for every second of my kids growing up.  I didn’t want to miss a set, a word, a giggle or an owwie.  I wanted to be the ‘go to’ on every level.  Moving to Westchester to give our kids the room to grow, also meant, as all you property tax payers know, it wasn’t the time to throw in the towel on a career that allowed me to work from home, for the most part.

People always say how I have the best of both worlds….but do I?  Is being a work at home mom advantageous, or, in many ways do you lose all sense of balance and grounding?

You know the old expression,” you don’t $#*@ where you eat”, well, what do you do when you work where you basically do everything else??  Continue reading →