Jo and Vinnie, Monster Baby | Michelle, Jayde and Dominic, Michelle Fiona Photography | Kylie, Keirabella and Lakeisha, Labella Creations
When Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young brought her daughter Kora into the Senate for quality time before a business trip in 2009, the issue of work-life balance was brought sharply into focus.
Many said that Parliament was no place for a baby. But how can mothers manage fulfilling careers while juggling parenthood?
Self-employed mothers and women who have family friendly employers may find that being a working parent isn't as difficult as it is for women who work the standard nine-to-five day.
Of course, mothers with flexibility still have to utilise formal childcare, nap time and sharing shifts with Dads to get work done, because it takes time to build a business. Then there are the new activities that are necessary to keep up in the industry, such as using social media, attending networking events and monitoring competitors
But we've found a few working mums who believe they've found ways to work with children present that other parents can learn from.
Jo Wilcox and Megan Stephenson of Monster Baby often work in a number of different places. The two mums started up the kids clothing line, by selling T-shirts with slogans inspired by the things their kids do and say, and with six kids aged nineteen to one-and-a-half between them, they often do business over meals, swimming lessons and beach afternoons mixed in with late night and early morning work sessions. "Jo and I are very good at conducting business meetings over Lego and vegemite sandwiches," Megan laughs.
"Together we drag the kids to the park, run them around while we bounce around ideas for the business, setting up a laptop on a bench somewhere. Then it's off to the cafe for coffee and sushi before heading home for little kids sleep and big kids video. The kids have always dragged toys, chairs and beanbags into the office and they get the final say on all of the designs and the colours and feature in all of our photo shoots. And even though the boys say they don't, they actually enjoy modelling the clothing and hamming it up for the camera," says Jo. "We embrace anything that streamlines our work and makes day-to-day life easier to spend more time with our kids and less about work."
Other mums prefer to work in a way that divides work from play time with their kids. "I was brought up with a nine-to-five ethic," says Michelle Johnson, who owns her own wedding photography business, Michelle Fiona Photography. "But I wanted to be a photographer and the business owning just came with that. And it's subsequently worked out to be very convenient at this stage of my life with two bubs."
Because she spends every weekend working except in winter, Michelle maximises the quality time she spends with her kids during the week by editing photos, responding to wedding enquiry emails and blogging mostly at night, and having her husband take over child care at other times, including when she is photographing weddings. "Jayde and Dominic go to kindy one day a week and on other days I'll edit a wedding while they're asleep but I've made it a rule not to attend to any work while my bubs are awake," she says. "I believe my bubs deserve 100% of my attention and my clients deserve 100% of my attention."
But Michelle has found a way to build on her craft while also spending time with her kids. "Weddings are my priority but I'm developing my family and portrait photography by being a mummy seven days a week," she says. "Because I'm very much about capturing 'life', my kids help me because they are so unaffected by the camera's presence so it's great practice for my technical skills, new ideas and candid style."
Another way mums are resourcefully combining work with parenting is by specifically inventing and tailoring a job to fit in around family life. Bree started her personal shopping service Buying for Bub for expectant mums, so that her work could be perfectly shaped around the days her husband worked from home to look after her kids Lacey, 4 and Logan, 2.
Bree allocates time for the park, play centre and play dates with her kids throughout the week in conjunction with short sessions in childcare for when she has in store appointments or needs to get work done at her home office. But research and product testing are two parts of her business that she does on the job, with her kids. "If a new item comes on the market I'll quite often take my children in to the store to trial it. If my children don't look comfortable in an item I will normally look at other items until I find one that suits better. My children are always happy to come into a baby store and help Mummy work."
Similarly, Kylie Watson, owner of Labella Creations, a child-proof jewellery range, involves her two daughters Lakeisha, 4, and Keirabella, 2, in the creative process of designing and making jewellery by turning work tasks into games, craft or learning activities, and doing this means Lakeisha and Keirabella are interested in Kylie's work as a result. "The girls get access to the beads so they can make their own necklaces while my team and I make the products. Lakeisha likes to help pack orders and arrange the jewellery displays at the markets. Both she and Bella play a huge role in testing the product – playdates with their friends often involve chucking new designs around, doing dress ups and pulling at them to make sure they're strong," Kylie says. "Lakeisha also pretends to set up her own jewellery store when she is playing with her teddies. I like that they can see what Mummy does for work so closely and they understand and can be a part of it."
Technology can be incredibly helpful for mothers to manage work while kids are around. "If we are out and about my phone is my best friend for checking emails and looking things up online. Many times we have been out and I have seen a new pram or bottle and looked it up on my phone," says Bree. "And I move my laptop around to work in the playroom or in the backyard while the children play."
But mastering the balance between passive childcare such as working at the park, formal childcare such as preschool and daycare, and play, can be complicated. A certain amount of passive childcare is okay when there is also plenty of one on one quality time. Most parents have used television as a babysitter at some stage or will sneak in a quick check on emails on the mobile while at playgroup. But being actively engaged in caring for children involves mentally switching out of work mode which isn't easy for many parents, even though more family time is often the reason for starting a business.
"The competing demands of wanting to grow a business and also manage family responsibilities can create stress and frustration," says work/life balance consultant and director of Parent Wellbeing, Jodie Beneviste. "True wellbeing comes from having meaningful plans for the future while not missing the moments. We need to constantly remind ourselves that life is what is happening right now. Kids are amazing at this. We can learn from them."
Depending on the ages of your children, there won't always be time to accomplish everything so it's about choosing techniques that work best for you. Michelle Johnson has accepted that she can only do so much until her children are both in primary school.
"I have big goals for my business but I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. It's really important for me to be present in the moment and enjoy this season of my life," says Michelle. "I've had to learn to be still. Just for now. That's really hard for a creative person!"
Jo and Megan agree that the business has to grow gradually. "We do have nightmare days where we struggle to get much done with the kids around so we just call it quits, go home and follow up later that night with a phone call," says Megan. "But we are both in the same boat so if I ring Jo and cancel a meeting because I've had 25 minutes of sleep the night before she doesn't mind."
It will require a major cultural shift to restructure business in a way that broadens the idea of work beyond the office, the eight hour day and the five day week without having a negative impact. But for parents who want more flexibility now, finding any opportunities that meld childcare and work could be the key to getting the most out of every stage of raising a family.
Discuss this with other working mums in our forum here.
