Monday, August 5, 2013

R-E-S-P-E-C-T find out what it means to me! (this goes to my WAHMS)

I used to blog a lot and then I got too busy,  but today was one of those days where the universe was telling me I needed to put this out there.   Conversations with friends, vents from other WAHMS  (work at home moms)  all seemed to point for me to do this so here I am... by the way this is from my perspective as a one woman show doing  marketing , shipping, customer service, manufacturing, etc    (other wahms may have a different schedule)

Working at home is real work dude!  (maybe even harder work)  and here is why...


lets start by just comparing a typical day in the life of 2 jobs one outside one inside because contrary to popular belief most work at home moms did at one point hold a job outside the home  you know a "real job"?

1.  Commute to work:  angry drivers, traffic, coffee, music or talk radio, parking clock in.  (30 mins-1 hour in most cases) 

WAHM:   Commute to work:  wake up the kids (if the kids aren't already slapping you in the face)  make breakfast, make lunches, get them ready for school,  take them to school  deal with same angry drivers,  if you home school you skip that but  you are dealing with all the morning kid stuff nonetheless... coffee (or in may case I don't get any  yeah it sucks)   get kids who are not in school settled  maybe watching some cartoons  (yeah ideally no TV but how else will  I get to work)  Clock in  (1 hour if you are lucky to 3 hours)


2.   Workday begins    you probably work for about 2-3 hours and take your first break!  Ahh bliss quiet time maybe some more coffee maybe  some phone time....   (break time 10 mins) 

 WAHM     you work for about 30 mins and if you are lucky you make it to the hour and you are forced to take a break.. is your break a real break? nope!  break means someone had an ouchie or a poopie diaper, someone  is thirsty, someone is bored, someone needs  SOMETHING!  ("break time" 30mins-1 hour)

3.  Work for 2 more hours then Lunch (lunch 30 mins to 1 hour) 

WAHM:  You work some more with many more interruptions  and then you realize oh yeah you have to do some laundry and you need to pick up the house and you are still in your pajamas  and then lunch comes....and you have to stop again  because  you need to cook lunch for the kids and while they are eating you sit down with whatever you find you can eat  quickly and check customer emails....  (lunch  1-2 hours)

4.  Work some more maybe have another break then clock out and drive home 

WAHM     You clean up from lunch, clean the kitchen  fold some clothes play with kids maybe pick up kids from school, feed them snacks  start getting dinner ready  and work well it'll have to wait

5. You arrive home tired from a long day and come home to dinner and your family 

WAHM  you are glad your partner is home  and can prob help you with the rest of the duties because you really have to finish this work because you may not have regular bosses but your clients are your bosses and you have deadlines and people are counting on you!

So because of all the "breaks" we have to take taking care of the house and kids work is extended for us so we sit here at 11pm. 12 am working answering emails  meeting deadlines....

Am I complaining? absolutely not! I am grateful and happy I could make this work but if you think my job isn't real then as the song goes...
  R-E-S-P-E-C-T find out what it mean to me!   Just a little bit ;)


1 comment:

  1. If you Google "work at home mom", you mostly find smiling pictures of women interacting with their kids whilst working. Yeah... right. This is so very honest and completely spot on!

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