Did you stop working permanently immediately after you had your first child? Or second?
Probably not. Most of my readers are professional, educated, smart, driven women who didn’t for the life of them picture themselves driving ridiculously pathetic minivans back and forth to playgroups where the benefits of classical music in utero, or never-ever-ever eating at McDonald’s, or the secret mission of evil Teletubbies’ quest to corrupt society, were discussed ad nauseum.
No.
We eased into it. “Of course I’m coming back to work.” Not a fabrication because we had every intent to do so. We were not on that Mommy track; we were not one of them, those stay-at-home moms – ridiculous. We were women, hear us roar.
But, then life happened. And our attitudes changed. And we (silently) apologized to every stay-at-home mom we ever rolled our eyes at.
And full-time became job-share. And job-share became part-time. Then part-time telecommuting. And telecommuting consulting. Then project-by-project basis. Then freelance. Then, three kids later, you need a bigger car and you’re driving the minivan you swore you’d never own and feeding the kids french fries off the floor.
The thing is, stop panicking about going back to work. You eased out of it, now ease back into it. Window shop job search sites. Participate in forums and groups specific to your industry. Or just listen in. Talk to people. Ask questions. Create a LinkedIn account. Reconnect with long-lost colleagues. It’s a process. Baby steps, sisters, baby steps.
Just started thinking about it. Youngest in 1st grade, and you got me thinking about the downtime to come. I’m afraid I’m too far gone by now!
Oh well..Kathy..are you secretly following me! this post sounds like my story…the only thing is that I did NOT buy the minivan..just an SUV with more seats 🙂 Thanks for the advice, the baby steps of reconnecting sometimes bring up more questions than answers…like, why do I really want to work…when all these people are so unhappy – has that happen to you after a networking professional meeting?
PS I realized that I did not know the address of my blog – and you found it 🙂 still not sure what the address is I think I spelled it blablablog..not sure
Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to ease into it. I went from stay-at-home mom to single mom who needed a job pronto. It was ugly, but I survived, but I am still juggling career and kids.
My career evolution followed the contorted path of full-time + –> freelance –> part-time telecommuting but I still feed my kids french fries off the floor of my too large SUV!
I’m phasing back up to work as well, but not eyeing full time. Not for a while yet, unless of course, they escort my hsb out the door any time soon and that, well, you never can tell. Then all bets are off and it’s full steam ahead: and with the economy, i’ll prob be selling those fries to you…