Working Attachment Mothers. Marji. Excerpt from Whats a smart woman like you doing at home? By Linda Burton Janet Dittmer & Cheri Loveless

Re-entering the work force

Excerpt from “Whats a Smart Woman Like You Doing at Home?” P 127.
By Linda Burton, Janet Dittmer & Cheri Loveless.

Working part-time away from the home, often while children are at school or when husbands can be with the children, is another way mothers continue in their chosen fields. Katherine Byrne, of Chicago, Illinois, speaks of the many years she spent in part-time persuits: “I am in my seventy-first year now, and am still happy that I stayed at home - but not exclusively. I always had my hand in something besides the tossed salad and the clay for the Cub Scouts’ Christmas gifts. I left the University of Chicago psychometric laboratory on my way to a doctorate, and never got back to it. But I have had the patchwork pleasure of part-time commintment to many intersting connections: writing, teaching, editing, researching; and now I am probably the city’s oldest paralegal.”

Many of today’s mothers are recognizingthat life has its “seasons” ; that the talents and skills they developed prior to motherhood might be utilised in different ways during the nurturing years - then put in full gear later. The mother of grown children who precede us often remind us that we need not accomplish everyting NOW, that we can do things “in sequence”.

Many of them describe deep satisfaction and fulfillment that came from devoting time to their children in the early years and time for career pursuits later on. As a mother of two from Texas explains: “I am a very modern, active, and liberated woman, loving my freedom now that my children are grown because I was with them when they were growing up. I’d be the first to tell any mother she should be proud to be a mother and homemaker. There’ll probably be plenty of time later for other pursuits! And a mother who stays home with her family now will enjoy her free time later much more, secure in the knowledge that she was there when the children needed a mother.”

Though many today claim that temporarily dropping out of the work force to nurture a familyh can be detrimental to a career, a mother from Castro Valley, California offers this hopeful message: “After college and a successful business career, I took thirty years off to raise four beautiful children. I can truly say that no job is as important, challenging, hard, or fulfilling as guiding a child to adulthood. I might also add that, after the last one was off to college and the nest was empty, despite the views of the media, there was no problem in re-entering the business world without need for re-training or aplogies.”

Mothers who desire to keep up skills or earn money at home are finding ways to do it, realising that nurturing a family does not have to mean the end of an outside career. Lynne Rasmussen, a mother from California who enjoyed a succesful sales career in the electronics and computer fields and now runs her own crafts business while rearing her children at home, expresses a feeling many mothers can recognise: “I’ve gone from feeling “I could never do that” to “maybe I could try it” to “I can do it” to “I can do anything!” It feels great.”