Moms: Ways to Balance Work and Life

Lately the question was raised whether or not working from home leads to abuse in young children. More specifically, abuse by neglect. It's a very sad fact that in today's society any child goes ignored, unfed, in dirty clothes with rotting teeth in a filthy house, etc. But the author of that article was dishonest about the responses of moms.

We need to set the record straight.

The author of the article claimed to have gone to "several" work-at-home sites and ask people how long they were online every day. She stated her average response was 7 hours a day, but then listed unspecific phrases such as "a lot" and "too long" as common answers. She chose a high number to shock people and support her negative opinion of moms who work at home.

It's very sad because - as a wahm now, going on 10 years - I know there are realistic periods of adjustment. There are times when every parent, no matter where they work, feels their child isn't getting enough attention. That doesn't equate to abuse ... and a lot of times, let's be honest, we're our own worst critics. Asking your child to wait for two minutes while you finish scanning documents into your computer is not a life threatening situation. It most likely isn't going to destroy your child's self-esteem. It's not a sign that you're a bad mom, or that you shouldn't work at home either.