Pro Mom Project

s I enjoy the twilight of maternity leave with my second child, I can’t help but feel conflicting emotions toward the prospect of returning to work. I’m grateful to have enjoyed sixteen weeks to focus on healing, bonding, and soaking up precious family time as we’ve whole-heartedly welcomed this new, tiny person into our lives.

As I learned with my first child, returning to work as a new mother feels precarious and vulnerable. For me, it is a time of self-doubt and questions. Will my baby be able to transition into childcare and bottle feeding smoothly without hampering our relationship? Will I still be a successful employee when operating on less sleep and lower emotional reserves than before I had a new baby? How can I make sure to “turn off” my thoughts of work when I am with my family, so I can enjoy precious time with them undistracted by tasks and deadlines that await me? How can I ensure my coworkers respect the boundaries I set to protect my weekday time with my children?

But at the end of the day, the most important question to me is: Do the benefits that I provide to my child through working clearly outweigh trade-offs that my career demands on my time and energy?

I can confidently answer “yes” to that last question. And if you are a working parent, I’m guessing you can as well. And because the end of maternity leave is a time of trepidation for me, I wanted to write out these benefits of working to remind myself why I choose to be a working parent. So here are the top five benefits to me:

1. Being a dual income household allows us to live in a place we truly love. We hand-picked this area for easy access to skiing, biking/hiking trails, beautiful walks from our home, and easy-to-access amenities (like groceries, pharmacy, and hardware goods within walking distance). By extension, living in this place we love makes it simpler for me to exercise, get outside, and do things that promote my wellbeing. It also makes it simple for me to introduce these things to my kids. In short, where we live significantly enhances the quality of my whole family’s lives.
2. My job enables me to make major progress toward saving and retirement goals. I believe that taking the steps now to build a secure financial future is a gift to both myself and my kids. I hope it will give me the freedom to offer a reasonable support to my kids as they pursue their own educations and goals. Investing regularly and early while I am young will pay off dividends in the future, and my job allows me to do that.
3. Ironically, I feel that I am more resourceful with my time outside of work since I know it is somewhat limited. Being a working parent has driven me to create and stick to a realistic schedule so that I can make the most of my time to be active, see my kids, spend time with my husband, etc. I feel motivated to keep my house (relatively) uncluttered, to move my body, and to get outside every day because I know that I can’t procrastinate those activities or they just won’t get done.  
4. Work provides valuable opportunities for professional, mental, and social fulfilment. Through working, I use and grow my unique skillset which will remain relevant through the future. Through work, I also challenge my brain to solve complex problems each day. Additionally, I enjoy spending time with many of my coworkers in and outside of work. I’ve made a few of my closest friends through work and find it a great time to connect meaningfully with others.
5. I won’t have a gap in employment and the long-term hit to career trajectory that often accompanies a gap. In her Forbes article about women taking career breaks, Shelly Zalis cites that women who take a career break of three or more years lose an average of 37% of their earning power. A 37% difference adds up year over year! And while money of course is not everything, it is an important tool for responsibility building a life for my family. And I personally know that my daily stress levels would be higher if my budget did not leave ample room to handle emergencies or unforeseen costs.

At the end of the day, working parents and non-working parents alike must face challenges and do hard things, while also experiencing the amazing rewards of their lifestyle choices. But if you are a working parent, I recommend you do a similar exercise to remind yourself of the amazing benefits that come from both professional and family enrichment. It is always helpful to remember your “why’s” so you can feel pride and satisfaction in your life.

And as always, if you are going through a time where your schedule and resources are feeling particularly strained (or downright impossible) to manage, I highly recommend you check out the Pro Mom Project schedule planning resources and professional consult services. They are extremely affordable and intuitive to implement, so that you can optimize your limited time and feel in-control of your life.

I would love to hear why you work! Please use the comments to tell me your favorite benefit(s) of being a working parent. I’m sure it will help others realize benefits of their own as well.