working mom

I just read a TNR article today about the Palin-style working mom and thought I'd write a bit about my recent new status as a working-mom. The article was interesting because she claims to do it all without ever missing a beat. However, she is able to "do it all" because her husband is basically a stay-at-home dad and she's loaded with other family around her helping out. Therefore, she has made some token efforts towards working parent concerns, basically only fair-wages for women, but none of the other biggies that count, like, affordable child-care and availability of accomodations at work for moms, i.e. breastpumps.

So, my recent job has been an overall good change for me, and I think the whole family. It's really great because it's short-term, so even if it was the wrong choice, it's only a problem for another 3 months. In the immediate term, the major plus for me is that life is easier. I'm not sleeping quite as much, but I get to sit all day! At 6 months pregnant, sitting in an ergo-designed chair is much better than the ground, park-bench, or just playing and constantly moving. The longer term plus is that I'm learning some new stuff and filling in the resume some so it's not completely blank. The negative is it's often boring and I have strict working hours. The working hours thing is completely ridiculous since I rely on noone else to do my job and only need an internet connection and a spreadsheet, maybe Word too. It's exactly the type of job that as a working mom they should be allowing some flexibility, but yep, that's not the case. As a consequence, there is little chance I'll come back to it after this contract. The little one seems to enjoy daycare and gets to play with much cooler toys than at home, do gymnastics, dance, music, and spanish, lots of fun stuff that she loves. The hubby is adjusting as well and doing a great job getting lil-M out the door every morning...not as easy as one might expect.

I appreciate the chance to mix things up for our family and give us all some different experiences. The sad part is that jobs which could be more accomodating to moms aren't. I could easily do this job part-time, from anywhere, but neither is an option b/c they are inflexible. At least it's only 4months long.