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• Sure I'm A Sad Wad But I'd Much Rather Be A SAHD WAHD

  Every morning when I leave the house, I put on my fedora, tuck a newspaper under my arm, grab my briefcase the kiss my sons goodbye. Every morning my 5 year old pleads with my to stay home and not to go to work, hugging my leg and asking why I can’t work from the house. Every morning I back out of the driveway and honk the horn at my sons as they plaster their faces against the living room window and wave madly until I’m out of view.  Read More... Posted Jan 10 2008, 04:32 PM by makeitadouble with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: SAHMs, sahds, WAHMs, WAHDs

• Useful Tips for Work at Home Sanity: Seriously, Do They Even Exist?

  Many of the parents I know who have paying jobs actually earn their income by working from home. I am one of those parents and if you are not one, you probably can name five or ten people who are. The bonus, which everyone can rattle off at this point, are having a work schedule that can accommodate picking kids up from preschool and being professional without brushing your teeth. The down side is, well...working from home, which is the nice way of admitting you shove 18 Little People, 24 MatchBox cars and a Dora potty out of the way just to sit in front of your laptop. It may also mean that your "office hours" are nap time, bed time and any time in between that there are shows on with fuzzy characters and without gun violence and nudity. One of my quests as a WAHM is to find better ways to organize my time, my desk and my attention so that I can be fully present when I'm working and fully present when I'm with my child (Duh?!, say all the WAHPs in the house). That's why I was excited to read a tip that is actually useful in my pursuit to end the "Isn't Elmo hilarious!? Keep watching to see what funny stuff he does while I send two more emails!" litany. This article begins with one home-business owners advice to take 15-minute breaks, even when you're on a roll with work, to spend time with the kids. Since I have the bad habit of going hours without getting up once I crack open the laptop, I was grateful to get a reminder to get up, get the blood moving, get a drink (of water or whatever), maybe even say hello to the most important people in my life. I guess that this tip works best if you have a sitter or some other miraculous caregiving mechanism or don't have an incessant-question-asking toddler. While the rest of the tips don't really work well for me (I can only imagine trying to convince my 2-1/2 year old to please finish up invoicing my employers so he can get a gold star), maybe the advice to set a schedule, enlist your kids to assist you and childproof your office will be the keys to your own work at home success. And if you have better ideas for achieving WAHBliss, then please, let me know the key to that serenity. Or, for God's sake, at least send your sitter over to my dining room cubicle for a couple of hours.   Posted Jun 08 2007, 05:57 PM by Jessica Ashley (Sassafrass) with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: WAHMs, WAHDs

• Working Mother Publisher Says Definition of Working Mother Is Changing

  Carol Evans founded Working Mother Magazine in the late 70's and has written a guide for working mothers called "This Is How We Do It". She's interviewed in an Omaha paper talking about the changing definition of the term 'Working Mother'. She discusses the shift in the old way of thinking about working mothers, where you were either in or out of the workforce. She says there are far more gray areas now with more women working reduced hours or taking a few years off with every intent of going back. She says there's growing respect in the workplace for the different career paths mothers are taking. She does admit companies, other than the progressive ones listed in Working Mother's 100 Best Companies for Mothers guide, still need a shift in thinking about alternatives for working mothers. She'd like to see things like flex time shifting as a cultural change within the corporate environment. She says many women have a good boss, open to flexible scheduling one year and then the next she has a boss who's not as open to these arrangements. It's nice to see generational shifts in the way we think about working mothers. I think though it's important to note that making all employment more flexible is the best way to help working mothers balance it all. Having two parents with flexible schedules and work from home options (and no fear of taking advantage of those perks) is ideal for families. Posted May 15 2007, 08:26 AM by Melissa Summers with | with no comments Filed under: working parents, working moms, WAHMs

• SAHMs are "Worth" $138,000 Annually. Like They'll Ever Get It.

  Good news, moms! You all get a 3% raise this year! Because 3% of zero is, guess what? That's right, zero! Yep, this year all you SAHMs aren't getting a whopping $134,121 (national average - the national high was $191,983) salary for everything you do. There. Don't you feel better now about picking up all those crushed and ground-in Cheerios from the carpet this morning? But hey, in case you were thinking differently, working moms haven't been left out of the new increase! Nope, all you moms who work, guess what? That's right, you're not getting $85,000 this year for the job you do after that other one you do, the one that actually pays real money. Where else can you work two jobs yet only get paid for one? Salary.com broke down all the myriad jobs performed on a daily basis by moms and came up with 90-plus hours per week of work done in job titles like Housekeeper, Day Care Center Teacher, Cook, Computer Operator I, Laundry Machine Operator, Janitor, Facilities Manager, Chief Executive Officer, Van Driver, Psychologist. I think they forgot a few. What about Referee, Entertainer, and Personal Assistant? Or Art Teacher, Dishwasher, and Librarian? I'm thinking of striking for better working conditions, since we're not getting paid anyway. Care to join me?  Posted May 03 2007, 07:34 AM by Karen Murphy with | with 10 comment(s) Filed under: SAHMs, work and motherhood, salaries, relative worth, WAHMs