Are you out of the closet? I am.
posted in Work-Life Balance, Working Moms, Mom Rants, Office Rants, Mom Friendly Companies |Nataly, over at Work It, Mom!, has started an interesting debate over women hiding the fact that they are moms at work because of the perception that being a mom will negatively affect their careers. Part of the issue discussed is how one woman doesn’t want to be associated with a “mommy” site or “mommy bloggers.” Pshaw, I say. Anyone, client or colleague, who I tell about my blog thinks it’s cool that I write on the side. So I personally don’t get that.
But when Nataly asks,
how many of us are hiding in the closet and limiting how much of our “mom” life to include in our professional interactions?
it makes me think: am I too much of a “mom” on the job?
I personally shout my mommy-ness from the rooftops at work. I’m not obnoxious about it (at least I don’t think so), but I do tell clients and colleagues I have a “mom blog” and I do talk about the things that happen to me as a mom. Like when I ran out of diapers and had to leave work early to go get some, which ultimately led me to taking a client conference call from home. I shared that little tid-bit with my client on our call. Since my client’s also a mom, she first laughed, and then said she could totally relate to my experience. I think telling her this story made our professional relationship a little more personal and definitely made me feel better about running out of diapers!
Perhaps it’s easier to flaunt being a mommy at work when you work with a lot of women (and moms) as I do, but I personally think that being a mom actually adds to my character instead of detracts. I’ve talked before about traits that I now have that I think help me be a better employee - I can multitask better and have more stamina than ever.
Of course, I try not to let the minutae of mommy-hood get in the way of work, but it sometimes cannot be avoided. My son gets sick and occasionally I have to leave early. But I believe being up front and honest will get me farther with my co-workers than if I try to cast my mom-persona to the side. Maybe I’m being really naive or unrealistic, but I can’t hide it: I’m a mom now, and really, that’s the most important job I have. I’m not ashamed to admit it.
Tags: Work It, Mom!, working mom, mommy wars
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