Working Mother Blog: Working from home is not all it’s cracked up to be... or is it?

Working Mother Blog: Working from home is not all it’s cracked up to be... or is it?

The New Part-time Job!

Finally after all those hours of searching on the web, revising my CV, going to interviews with beautification stepped up to perhaps 10 minutes in lieu of the normal 30 seconds of getting ready time; to allow for make up, hair and dressing up in business clobber with heels to boot, I have found a new Part time job! I am hoping I've found that elusive role that will give me the optimum work/life balance.

I start next week so I've been splurging on some new business attire, now that I've ditched (actually returned) the horrendous uniform I was made to wear at my old place of work. I have had a lovely farewell morning tea today, and was given my fave - a box of choccies as a momento (of my 5 month stint) or should I say memory, as I'll have eaten them all probably by tonight.

I am looking forward to meeting some new people, challenging work, the slight possibility of career advancement in the following years and maybe a nice holiday next year once the paychecks start rolling in.

I have other dilemnas in the next few months to contemplate such as do I keep my daughter at kindy or switch back to day care. Kindy hours are not work friendly hours. Kindy is cheaper but I think our daycare is great! How many days will I work next year? Two days just at the moment which is splendid. I have the best long weekend every week - 5 days. Should I catch the bus or drive? Will I be able to fit in a gym visit which is in the same building? All my husband is thinking about is how the mortgage will look better and the house is more of a mess with the slightly longer hours!

Ahh the joys of domestic bliss.......

The Mighty Clothes Airer

All hail the mighty clothes airer. This is one of the time and environment saving gadgets in my life. I am not a huge watcher of daytime tv and this has decreased even more so with the demands of two little ones in my life who also love watching ABC Kids. But I did happen to catch a Dr Phil program about mums and the demands of household chores. It explored a couple of mums who just never got to the important things they were constantly struggling with the housework, taking kids to school in their PJ's and not putting much time or energy into themselves or their lives just slaving away for their families. Mums tend to never sit still I always seem to be attending to something whether it be washing, putting away clothes, ironing, washing dishes, cooking etc. etc. There isn't much time left for spending time with our children, partners or even a little time to ourselves.

"Don't sweat the small stuff" great advice from a good friend. We are living in a home not a museum I tell my husband. It's nice to have a clean and tidy house but at what price? Your children won't remember your pristine cleaned bathroom or your immaculately cleaned floors. The only thing they want from you is your time, love and attention. Ironing - this was one topic I took the advice on board from the Dr Phil program why iron play clothes? (someone in my family who shall remain nameless irons undies) and I have to say I was partial to ironed pillow cases and teatowels but not any more! - I don't iron a whole lot. Firstly when I wash everything, all shirts including the children's go on hangers on a clothes airer. I have an inside laundry - very lucky I know, so clothes can be hung on the airer morning, noon or midnight as I have been known to do but whenever I can fit it in.

Most of these shirts now need little or no ironing. They are easy to put away as they are already on hangers. I only iron the kids clothes for special occasions or if it's a cotton garment with lots of creases.

The airer saves me looking at the weather and wondering if it will rain or will I be home to pull the clothes off the line. I now rarely use the dryer, only if there is a large amount of wet weather and I run out of space. I can fit nearly two loads on the type of airer you see pictured here as I use all of the side wrungs to hang all of the shirts on their hangers, once I have draped all of the smaller items on the slats. I only use pegs on tiny things such as socks. Bibs can also be velcroed around the side slats.

This airer has made my whole life in the laundry a little easier. I spend minimal time on it and get a good result. It's fairly compact even with all of the hanging items and is easy to move around as it's on casters. Thing dry pretty quickly and in summer I wheel outside for quicker drying.

I think you can track these airers down at BIG W, Bunnings or Hills. I have seen three tier airers around since I bought mine maybe I'll look at an upgrade in the near future!

Lose your handbag, lose your identity!

Now all of us girls love a bag and the prospect of buying a new one, is that of excitement and anticipation. But this was no ordinary bag. This was the dream bag, not necessarily a glamorous bag, but the bag of an expectant mother. Packed with tiny newborn nappies, fresh bibs, wipes, a sweet spare outfit in case of mishaps. This would be the bag that would take me through hours of retail bliss, while I pushed my gorgeous sleeping newborn in a brand spanking new three wheeler pram.

I picked out one of the trendiest bags around at the time, I had been eyeing it off for weeks. It didn't looked like a baby bag, more of a sophisticated beach bag which I would be happy to put my phone and wallet in and away we go.

Yes, the bag stayed in pristine condition whilst I did fit in some shopping trips in those first few months. However I did spend a lot of my retail therapy time in the mother's room feeding and changing my baby. As the weeks turned into months the sleeping princess also liked to be awake more and not in a peaceful state either but screaming her lungs out. So the baby pouch was used to maximize shopping time and the new pram became more of a trolley to wheel around the purchases I managed to make.

The bags contents also had to ramped up and was taken everywhere, because now we had food and bottles to take on every outing, as well as three spare changes of clothes for baby, one for myself, cloth nappies and handtowels to mop up all of the projectile spills my very spuey baby regularly had, toys, a floor mat for her to lay on, panadol for those terrible times of teething, immunisations and some little colds.

"Be Prepared" My old Girl Guide motto - I have to say that this bag was full if not overflowing with all the equipment I could possibly need. It was a little on the heavy side but I was never really caught out in the event of a nappy blowout or a hungry or sick baby.

Being my first bub I really never left her side for the first 3 months. BIG MISTAKE! By the time I was going to make my first outing without my baby and the "equipment bag" to a concert where I would be away for really not a long time, maybe four hours; I was a nervous wreck! I felt guilty, I knew I wouldn't be around to feed her and I wouldn't be able to just come home either. I squeezed into some pre-pregnancy clothes for this first evening away and I grabbed my wallet and phone. The outing was a success and my husband coped fine - I really had unnecessarily worried.

I guess looking back now I make this conclusion. It is healthy for new mums to take a little time out. I would say I definitely took too long to take that time away - just a few hours. It was harder to take this time out because I took so long to do it. Whilst I was going to plenty of mothers groups, shopping and catching up with my family, I always had my baby and "equipment bag" no matter where I went. Don't get me wrong I loved being a mum but should have taken some time for small pleasures such as a haircut, waxing or even a hot choccy! I really didn't extend my social activities outside of being a mum until my baby was 7 months. I made it too easy to take her with me everywhere instead of getting my partner to share some of the responsibility. I started heading out on my own and having more regular catchups with friends in the evenings, getting back out to dinner, coffee or a movie and this changed my whole outlook on my little domestic world. I definitely think that keeping your handbag is one of the ways to retain your little piece of independance. On the practical side you can leave on the run, without reefing all of your items out of you baby bag, and your partner can have the kids at home or head out with the "baby bag". (there are some great unisex designs) On the metaphorical side you may be a mum (I know it's not as simple as just a handbag) BUT you are still a women of the world and need to get out and experience life and do a few things that you enjoy whether it be alone, with your partner or friends.

The second time around with baby number 2 I kept both my handbag and my baby bag and had social activities which allowed me to head out of the house with friends much earlier than the seven month mark. I wasn't out every night of the week but a few nights a month where I enjoyed some adult conversation. I am a lot happier as a 2nd time mum, my life seems to have more balance. (check out my post "Life Culture Shock" for more on this topic for first time mums)

Apart from finding a forgotten sandwich in the bag, or even worse a bottle filled with milk or a stray sultana I love my baby bag - but I love my handbag too.

Check out http://www.oioi.com.au/
for a great selection of baby bags. I chose one of the messenger styles you can see below and it is still going strong after nearly 4 years of use!

Mother's Marketing Role

It's all about the sugar on top. How hard is it to get a three and a half year old to do anything? I didn't realize how creative I needed to be, to get a little person to get out of bed, get dressed and eat some breakfast....

In the past few weeks I am also seeing more and more how strong my genes have flowed into my first born. Let's call her "mini me" for today's turn of events. She has built on not only a love of pink - pink cups, plates, lollies and not to mention clothes and shoes, but now in particular in the clothing department a love of skirts and that's "skirts only!" thank you very much. We only want to wear skirts and once we have them on we don't want to take them off when it's PJ time.

I have explained the practicalities of shorts and jeans for the play equipment at kindy and the park but no we would prefer to wear skirts. I have explained that all of our skirts are lovely and we don't really want to get paint on them but no we still want to wear a skirt. It's absolutely freezing outside? No I want to wear a skirt, and you know what I don't need that jumper, slippers or dressing gown you bought me either... I'm not cold and I just want to wear a skirt and t-shirt!

One morning I had a breakthrough, how about putting on these leggings and shirt and then wear a dressup dress or skirt over the top - wow now that's a good idea! That worked for one day.

How about wearing these new shoes (hand me downs) with your warm warm trackies they match don't they! Ohh yes Mummy that's a great idea. My daughter has a love of all shoes watch out Carrie (SATC)!

I am seeing a pattern here. I just need to find out what appeals to this three and half year old demographic, put in a few hours on this target market get my whities (white lies) up to scratch and I'll have her eating all of her dinner, wearing all of the clothes in her wardrobe (not just the skirts & the pink stuff) and maybe a few less bribes (icecream and freddos) I warn her she'll become a high maintenance little girl, but she shows me how thoughtful and sweet she is whilst she is playing with other children or listening to a story.

I adore my princess - she really is the sweetest thing. Even if things need to be twisted to sound more appealing once in a while.

The Great Maternity Leave Debate

I have just emailed the Women's Weekly on this very important subject. "Maternity Leave" Let me know what you think!

Dear Woman’s Weekly,
I am writing in, to put forward some of my thoughts on the great maternity leave debate! I am a mother of two and currently work part-time. With my first child I received no paid maternity leave. I did however receive the first rollout of the baby bonus. I returned to work part-time in between my first and second child, and because the company I had worked for had been taken over by a UK company, I was given 6 weeks maternity leave at a part-time rate.
There are so many reasons that women should be entitled to paid maternity leave. For most absences from work, there is some sort of paid leave and why should having a baby be any different? Firstly I believe that some government professions such as teaching and nursing require staff to work no later than 36 weeks gestation due to legislation/WPHS; their may also be some restrictions on the timeframe for returning to work for these same WPHS reasons.
I would think that most women if given a choice would prefer at the very minimum to not return to work in the first 6-12weeks after the birth of their child, to allow their recovery and to care for their new born. Women are usually not entitled to take any accrued sick leave for their maternity leave absence from work, and whilst they are not sick spend at least 2 days in hospital as a minimum.
Women are forced to use their annual leave and long service leave in the absence of paid maternity leave. Some employers, whilst they offer paid maternity leave, they do not pay the full amount until the employees return to work even though they have given a full year (12months) of service prior to the commencement of maternity leave.
Australia is one of only a few countries in the OECD who don’t offer some sort of Paid Maternity Scheme and although we have had the baby bonus for the last 4 years - this will now be means tested so that many hard working families will not receive this.
I support both stay at home and working mothers. Both of these groups of women work equally hard to nurture the Australian adults of the future. So I propose for stay at home mothers to continue to receive the baby bonus even if it is paid in instalments rather than a lump sum amount and should be equivalent to a minimum of 12 weeks paid leave. For working mums to be - why can’t they receive a tax refund in lieu of the baby bonus equivalent to 12 weeks paid maternity leave? That way it is not seen as a burden to the tax payer but a way to help all Australian families.
In the process this may encourage women to return to the workplaces they are leaving behind and we may even give women the right to choose when they return to the workplace, rather than being forced because of their financial situation. Sadly the majority of many working women’s pay goes towards their hefty childcare fees.
I believe the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers Australia (APESMA), has told the Productivity Commission's inquiry into paid maternity leave that primary care-givers should be given 28 weeks paid leave, including two weeks before a birth.
Interesting times ahead! And I haven’t even mentioned how difficult it is for women to find part-time work in a professional capacity at the end of their maternity leave or the fact we need a change of mindset from employers for more flexible working arrangements for parents and a more practical approach for the provision of childcare.
Thanks for a great read and please keep us informed on the fight for paid maternity leave in Australia.


PS I read this great article on the ninemsn website - this might be of great interest to your readers:
http://optuszoo.news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=578071&rss=yes&_cobr=optus

Is Part-Time work a dirty word?

Part time doesn’t mean lack of commitment!

Ok. So I’m a mum who had a professional career and when I set about looking for part time work I soon learnt that there aren’t a lot of roles in the workforce. I am finding the whole job hunting process a little tedious. I have been looking for that elusive "Fabulous" Part-Time role ever since my maternity leave after baby no. 1 drew to a close. I have been working but am yet to find a job that I trully enjoy more than 50% of the time. I can't really complain I guess as I do have the choice of not working full time which many mother's aren't in a financial position to make - however I have a husband that is quite happy for me to work or should I say wants me to work and our financial commitments don't look in dire straits because of this, and I do get to splurge on the kids often and myself occasionally.

I have to say that I just felt sooooo guilty the whole time after going back to work after my first child and really felt like I was missing out on something. Whilst I was pregnant and then working part-time things were definitely not the same in the workplace. There was a noticeable difference or should I say I was continually bypassed when it came to working on many of the usual aspects of my role. I had the biggest countdown of excitement to maternity leave no. 2 and loved being able to finish 6 weeks prior to our 2nd bubs arrival - to allow for a bit of "me" time which happened a lot less than I would have liked.

I also had the secret dream of not returning to work after bub no. 2. After much deliberation, discussion, tears etc. I handed in my resignation near the end of my leave but this was short lived with a new job on the horizon, the day I had finally found freedom from a very Bitchy workplace.

Whilst returning to work this time has been a much more easier transition, and I have a lot less of the guilt factor. It has given me a chance to use my brain again and dust off the vocabulary, while earning some cash to pay the bills. This new job alas has just proved the theory of "the grass is not always greener on the other side!" But I have to say I'm glad I moved on from my previous place of work as I can imagine I would be ten times more miserable had I have gone back to the same old same old.

This leads me to my stress and frustration of looking for another role. Now I know from the types of jobs that are advertised in my area of expertise Part-Time is virtually unheard of. Agencies promise on one hand several interested companies but these jobs don't seem to come to fruition! I don't want to go to any more interviews with Agencies. I want real job interviews, with real employers! And what's with this new era of advertising but not even listing the potential employer! This seems to be trying to protect the agencies fees! The hunt continues...more seeking and seeking on seek.com.au and more interviews which require too much hardwork finding someone to look after the kids, timing it with sleeps, getting ready, wearing uncomfortable high heels, parking in the CBD of Brisvegas. Wish me luck!

What's it really like being a Mum?

Well wonderful most of the time. I have to say in the last 4 years since becoming preggers through to raising 2 little mischief makers, I have learnt more about life than I have probably in the previous 20+ years "BC" (aka Before Children). I have to be brutally honest and say that the highs are probably equal to any "Everest" moment but I can't forget the lows too. The lows have taught me lots and kept me grounded and honest and at the end of the day make me appreciate how fortunate I am to be living life as a Mum.

Why become a blogger you ask? Good question! I hope to share lots of helpful hints and funny stories that may be useful to other mothers out there and those who are about to; or thinking about taking the giant leap into parenthood.

We all have daily hurdles (they come faster than a speeding bullet and more frequently than a locomotive) but sharing our journey is the best way to realise that Mums all around the world can unite in this life draining, oops I mean life enriching experience!