As everyone knows that having a baby will change your life, it’s rarely discussed how you can proactively address the ways pregnancy and kids will affect your professional life.
Life in the fast lane is hard on everyone, but being a mother is one of the toughest jobs out there.
Nowadays, every woman is trying hard to move into the workforce not only for career satisfaction but because their families need the income. They continue to work because they have careers that they have spent years developing.
Some women return to work soon after giving birth because they know that most of the employers are not kind enough to working mothers who wish to take time off to be with their children. If these women take some months off, they may end up losing certain career opportunities.
Woman develops the ability of raising a useful member of society and at the same time gains financial independence. Along with motherhood, work adds to the completeness of being a woman.
Thus, you will see that motherhood can prepare you for a new career after kids grow up. You’ll learn a lot of amazing skills like time management, organization, multi-tasking and customer satisfaction for the most difficult customers.
Motherhood is a crucial time for a working woman. Those women working full-time who are experiencing motherhood require support from their employers in the form of maternity leave and other health benefits. While the extent of these benefits depends on the HR policies of each organization, there are some minimum requirements laid down by the law.
Here are a few key things to consider with respect to your career:
Childcare:
Will you stay home, use a daycare or family care, or some combination of the above?
Although you may change your mind during or after maternity leave, it is beneficial to have some sense, how you want to handle childcare. In fact, some urban day cares allow you to join a waitlist before you are even pregnant!
As with timing, the best arrangement when it comes to childcare is unique to each woman. Ask around and find out what your friends, colleagues and mentors have done to see what might be the best fit for you.
If you plan to stay home for a while, or transition to part-time work, research both the short-time and long-term impact on your career. Reconciling your professional goals with your childcare desires will likely be a process that evolves over time.
Take a very good care of your child. It not only helps ensure a child’s well-being, but also may reduce any guilt of not spending time with them besides working. Having quality child care and a good relationship with the caregiver also can ease some of the worry. Parents need to be attentive to their child when they are with them. The more involved parents are in all aspects of their children’s life, the closer they will feel and the more effective and comfortable they will be as parents.
Health care + maternity leave:
What are the policies at your company/in your state?
While successfully juggling a work schedule, pregnant women and mothers with young children strive to keep their work life out of their children’s lives, and vice versa. In between this work schedule, mothers often find themselves fighting to find time for both lives – the one they leave behind at home with children, and the one they lead in an orderly manner at the office. It then becomes the employer’s responsibility to ensure the overall well-being of the women shouldering these additional responsibilities.
Get inside info:
How have women at your company + in your field handled motherhood?
Get to know what your colleagues or other mothers handling motherhood with both work life and home. Gain insight into the practicalities of motherhood at your company or in your line of work.
Try to find people at a range of levels to learn about the challenges along the professional spectrum. Find ways to research other organizations‘ benefits, flexibility and culture as they relate to women’s issues.
If your company doesn’t have policies in place for new mothers, think about creating them yourself. Find a support system in your office or elsewhere to help you with managing this both.
Self-check-in:
Are you taking care of yourself physically + emotionally for pregnancy + childcare?
Pregnancy can be hard on your body, your mind and your spirit. Be prepared for the changes to come, so you and the baby stay as healthy as possible.
Many health care providers will ask you to stop drinking alcohol, caffeine, late-night partying and all that fun stuff before you even begin trying to conceive, as those habits can hurt your fertility. Start taking prenatal vitamins before TTC to build up a store of folic acid in your body to support the pregnancy. Getting into good shape before getting pregnant will help you stay active while pregnant as well as bounce back after your baby’s grand entrance.
Moreover, after child’s birth, a mother should be given rest for some months and this decision must be taken seriously. If you are considering returning to work immediataly, try to delay your return until three or four months after your child is born. This is how you need to take care of yourself physically and mentally. Spend more time with your children and get to know each other.
Take the time to prepare yourself and your family, so that the adjustment is as easy as possible for everyone. All these efforts require some time and attention, but they are minimal compared to what lies ahead: the most incredible journey of your life.
Thus, being a new mother can be overwhelming for so many reasons. First, there are the physical changes and then, of course, you have a precious new little human to take care of. On top of it all, many new moms also have jobs to return to. There is no doubt that becoming a mother completely changes the outlook and perspective on your career and encourages you to live up to your value and makes you more efficient.
