Catching the WAHM Wave

Tips for the Work At Home Mother

It's a difficult choice pregnant women and new mothers face: whether to go back to work or stay at home. Enter the newest member of the work force, the Work At Home Mother (otherwise known as the WAHM).

Got a job? Got a baby? Many pregnant women and new mothers face an agonizing choice: go back to work after the baby is born or stay at home. Increasingly, many new mothers are trying — and succeeding — at doing both. Enter the newest member of the work force, the Work At Home Mother (otherwise known as the WAHM).

Want to "WAHM" it? Facing the end of maternity leave? Approach your boss about telecommuting. How about working for yourself? In many fields, the general trend is towards freelancers and consultants. When you work at home, you don't have to deal with pantyhose, make-up, commute time, office politics, or snarling bosses. You get to leave the house whenever you want to, hang out at cafes with your laptop and stroller, and take long lunch hours whenever you feel like it. Sound terrific? Well, it can be.

Hey, this is not just a WAHM kind of thing. Home offices are flourishing around the country, as businesses realize that working at home can lead to more productivity and less corporate overhead. Working at home is also environmentally sound (think of all those exhaust fumes you're not putting into the air each day you don't commute.)

Yet blissful as it may sound, don't let anybody tell you working at home is all joy and no challenge. As a WAHM, you'll have to motivate yourself, stay engaged with nobody in the room with you but a cute, drooling little human, and remember how to socialize on that odd day when you do meet a client or go into the office for a meeting. How do you divvy up your time when the kitchen is a disaster, you're on a deadline, the client is on the phone, and the baby is howling? Like riding a bike, playing the cello, and diapering a squirming infant, working at home with a baby requires a few lessons, a flexible attitude, and practice, practice, practice.

I've been a WAHM since the early days of my daughter's life when, near the end of my pregnancy, a long-term tech writing contract dried up and I decided to go it on my own as a freelancer — with no bosses and no steady income. Though it hasn't always been a gentle walk in the woods, I've still got a roof over my head, my child flourishes, and my resume is several pages longer. After years of experience, here are a few things I've learned:

1. Prioritize your work. The WAHM's first tool is lists, lists and more lists. Early motherhood usually comes along with a bad case of C.R.S. (Can't Remember Squat), so try to remember to keep a pad of paper handy and, every time you remember a task, write it down. Your first task at the beginning of each work session should be to organize and prioritize your list of Must Do's.

2. Turn a blind eye to dirt, grime, laundry, and the over-flowing diaper pail. Working at home requires a dual personality that understands that the separation between work and housework is stronger than this county's separation of church and state. Here's what you need to remember: You are not at home; you are in one big pigsty of an office, and YOU ARE NOT THE JANITOR.

3. Leave your vanity at the door. There may be days (okay, who am I fooling, weeks) when you never get out of your sweats, and as for washing your hair.... When there are a million demands on your time from both baby and the job, priorities change. It's good to keep the long view on this one; the day will come (I promise) when you'll once more leave the house pressed, preened, and pretty.