|
Want to commiserate about the Monday back to work blues or get tips on scheduling playdates from your desk? This is the place to quench your thirst for all things work/life related. Around the Watercooler is a column written by a group of moms that work full time outside the home. Check back often to hear them dish about the trials and traumas of the work/life balance battlefield. Our column's host, Lauren Young, is an editor for BusinessWeek Magazine and a regular contributor to the BusinessWeek Working Parents Blog. She is joined by Elizabeth Horn, a full-time nurse and author of the candid and funny blogs, Busy Mom, Career & Kids and GenBetween, Susan Wenner Jackson, who works for an advertising agency in Cincinnati and blogs about her working mom life on Working Moms Against Guilt, and Amy Smith, a full-time executive by day, poopy diaper changing/teenage problem solving mom by night and author of the blog Milk Breath and Margaritas. |
Are You On The Mommy Track?
I used to be somebody. Well, somebody at my job, anyway. I was the assistant director of a large hospital department, and the day I returned from maternity leave I found out that the director had been fired and I became the big boss. more
Movin’ Up, Movin’ Out: Part I.
You know when you’re in the same job for a while and you get burned out—but you don’t even know it? A couple of months ago, that was me. For the past five years, I had been working as a copywriter for a successful, fast-growing ad agency in Cincinnati . more
Classic Mommy Morning.
Nancy Travis was having “a classic mommy morning” when I spoke to her by telephone early one morning a few weeks ago. The co-star of The Bill Engvall Show, which started its second season on TBS on June 12, was trying to figure out who would watch Ben, her 10-year-old son, while she went to work. “I’m sitting here waiting for the carpool mom to pick up my younger son, Jeremy, who is six,” said Travis, who seemed unfazed by the chaos.
Finding Balance.
Finding balance is the working mother's ultimate cliche, and a phrase so overused that we roll our eyes in collective unbelief that anyone still thinks we even have time to think about it much. I'm trying to finish a report, do laundry, find the checkbook, and remember to schedule the baby's well visit that is now 2 months past due. more
Summer Camp Crisis.
It's Summer. Do You Know Where Your Kid Is? I stuck a large post-it on the fridge this week. It shows the last day of school in May and the first day in August. In between is a list of various start and end dates and which camp our son will be attending during each block of time. And each camp's drop off and pick up times. And the bus schedule, if there is a bus. If he's lucky, his parent's will actually keep track of where he is and remember who is supposed to pick him up each day. And where. more
To Work or Not to Work is Not the Question.
In her new book Opting In: Having a Child Without Losing Yourself,
Amy Richards explores the tricky landscape of motherhood in the 21st
Century. Richards, age 38, who is the mother of two young boys, is a
well-known feminist and a leader in the Third Wave movement. She is
also is the cofounder of Soapbox, a progressive speakers bureau. I
recently caught up with Richards to talk about her new book, focusing
on the issues affecting working parents. Here are edited excerpts of
our conversation:
Never Let Them See You Sweat.
Remember that cheesy deodorant tagline from the 80s: “Never let ‘em see you sweat”? For the past few months, as part of my New Year’s get-fit resolution, I’ve been breaking that rule of female empowerment at the office. more
Daycare Kids & Myers-Briggs.
We put our 15-month old son in the nursery at church Sunday. When we picked him up the nursery workers were gushing about how sweet he was and how well he had done being with them for the first time. more
Green Guilt.
Going “green” is the social mandate of the times. Everywhere you look, there’s advice about how to reduce your carbon footprint, reuse items and save energy. All worthy pursuits.
How Does The Recession Factor In All This?
Despite the title of this column, my office doesn’t actually have a watercooler. (Much to my dismay, I might add.) Instead, we have three water fountains strategically situated around the office. Therefore, the watering hole is actually a Flavia single-serve coffee machine in the break room, which serves up more than 10 different kinds of coffee and tea combinations.