Working It: Moms Blog About Work-Life Choices

"I recently committed an atrocious act for a new journalism school grad such as myself. I took myself out of the running for, what on paper, was an ideal job," writes Meri Perra in a Queer as Moms blog post at Bunch Family. 

I found out about this post when Perra sent me a tweet, thanking me for some wisdom I had unknowingly offered her via a column I wrote a few weeks ago for The Toronto Star. (If you read Perra's blog post, this will all make sense.)

When I read Perra's post, about her work-life conflicts, I realized that very little has changed in the 22 years since I first became a mom. In the majority of cases, the workplace still completes with the family for the worker's time and and thought space, in much the same way that a jealous lover wants to be the sole focus of attention. The only thing that's different these days is that both moms and dads are equally likely to be subjected to the work-home tug-of-war -- and to be penalized, career-wise, for putting family first.

Yes, there are some very enlightened companies that are doing things right by making family-friendly policies a priority, and they deserved to be rewarded with our business. Unfortunately, those companies are the exception rather than the rule.

* * *

Just as I was about to wrap up this post, I came across another powerful post on the work-life theme -- this one by mom-entrepreneur Alexandria Durrell (a.k.a. Clippo). She talks about how her home-based business almost got away on her (success isn't always everything it's cracked up to be) until she decided to rein things in. The net result? She's turned it into a win-win for her family and her customers.