Welcome to our Working Moms Roundtable! Collin County Moms Blog recruited a great mix of mothers who work full-time, part-time, or from home, and asked them a bunch of questions on their thoughts and feelings about the mythical phrase we all love to hate and hate to love, “Work-Life Balance.” Each post will focus on a specific theme related to balance at home, at work, with our partners, with our kids, and with our coworkers. We hope you’ll enjoy and maybe even grab some tips or encouragement for yourself! See the first post here.
What are your career goals?
“I want to have a stable position doing what I’m passionate about and working with fun people. I want to always be learning new techniques and software; in my industry, everything changes so quickly, so learning new things is a must.”–Victoria, UX Designer
“I’d like to eventually be the Director of Development at the learning center I work for.”–Madeline L., Admin Assistant/Enrollment & Development Coordinator
“My career goals change every year. Currently, my career goal is to remain in events (preferably in entertainment) but on the sponsorship side of the business.”–Claudia, Business & Tickets Operations Coordinator
“My career goal is to become an IT Architect and a technical expert in my field.”–G.S., IT
“As far as my career goes, I’ve never had the desire to “climb the ladder,” but I am working towards a position where I am given more agency to create and manage content and possibly other people.”–Madelaine S., Copywriter & Content Specialist
“Career goals are to work as a family therapist and to get my Ph.D in child psychology.”–Sidu, Teacher
“My short-term goal is to do my part-time MBA within the next five years; long term, I would love to be CEO and managing my own company.”–Eliza, Director of Operations
“I would like to grow my company and eventually turn my everyday role over to a rising star within the company, so that I can branch out into more philanthropic work while still continuing to do consulting projects.“–Jennifer C., Managing Partner
“I would like to be the CEO of the organization I work for in the next 10 years.”–Dhivya, Operations Lead
What are your parenting goals?
“Long term, I want to raise a happy, healthy boy who gives back to the community, has a good work ethic, respects others, and appreciates equality. Hopefully, he’s funny, too.”–Victoria, UX Designer
“I want my kid to grow up knowing the difference between right and wrong, I want him to be revolutionary, kind, and considerate, a strong male presence who believes in equality.”–Madeline L., Admin Assistant/Enrollment & Development Coordinator
“I want to show my boys that having a career and a family can happen, especially for a female. I want them to be surrounded by strong, independent women and to only know equality and respect. I hope to raise good human beings who love life and demand fairness. I basically just don’t want to screw it up. :)”–Claudia, Business & Tickets Operations Coordinator
“Right now we are lucky to be able to provide wonderful, safe childcare, but as we move closer to school age, I worry about our time, and how we will manage work hours (8-5) and schools hours. I want to be there to pick her up and take her to dance, soccer lessons, and help her with homework. I wonder if I will have to give up my career to make sure that she has some place safe after school.”–Michelle Y., Accounting Associate
“My parenting goals have always been to be the safe place for my kids and stay on top of the things they need like permission slips and school projects, and even regular stuff like dinner at the table and toilet paper in the cabinet!”–Madelaine S., Copywriter & Content Specialist
“Being present as much as possible in my child(ren’s) lives and being available to them. Raising them in a gentle way that allows them the freedom to start learning to make decisions and evaluate their choices while also considering others and how their choices affect them.”–Sidu, Teacher
“To be a very hands-on mother who is able to attend all of my kids events, school field trips, be on the PTA, and be able to be there for every moment that is important to them. I want to help guide and be an example to my children of what kindness looks like, what hard work is, how to have healthy, meaningful relationships, how to work through difficult patches, and that being a good, intelligent, giving, and kind person is so important in life.”–Jennifer C., Managing Partner
What do you do when these interfere with each other?
“My son’s been sick a lot lately and sometimes I worry that it reflects poorly on me to be out of the office so often. It helps that my husband can sometimes work from home when he’s sick, so we try to alternate.”-Victoria, UX Designer
“When these interfere with each other, as in my job will require my time on weekends to fix issues that arise, I try to make it up to them later with a mom and daughter date.”–G.S., IT
“Time is where this can get tricky, so for me, schedules are everything. When work interferes with parenting, I ask for help! Whether from family, friends or neighbors, I am definitely not afraid to ask for help so that my kids have what they need.”–Madelaine S., Copywriter & Content Specialist
“Whenever there is a conflict, sleep suffers or my husband takes over. I do think so far I have focused more on my work life than personal but now with the second kid, I think it’s harder to do that.”–Nidhi, Operations Lead
“For smaller things, like a sickness or doctor’s appointments, my husband and I try to alternate—and it can sometimes cause arguments over who has the busier day or who took a kid the last time! Not fun. For hospital stays, my office understands that I’m going to be gone (and we work it out through PTO, FMLA, temporary disability, and just plain old understanding and generosity…everyone knows that the reason I’m out is because I’m taking care of my kid). I’m very lucky to work with a group who goes above and beyond to make sure that I have nothing to worry about while I’m out. Our kids come first and any job that questions that isn’t a job worth having.” –Whitney, Managing Editor/Digital Marketing Creative Manager
What are your parenting and career goals? What do YOU do when parenting and work interfere with each other?
Love this! Gives me insight into how other working moms balance it all!