Can working from home make me a better mom?

All working parents struggle with the juggle - trying to be committed and devoted to both our jobs and our families. At the same time. While working from home doesn't add more hours to an over full day, it appears to offer the promise of making my schedule and my life a bit more flexible.

Last Thursday, during the course of the day I was able to do a load of laundry, empty the dishwasher, stir the compost pile and think about dinner in between client calls and brainstorming sessions. I forwarded my office phone to my cell, left my home office at 3:30pm to pick up vegetables from the community farm program and take my son to his 4:45 karate lessons. After karate lessons, I got dinner on the table before my 5 year old had to beg me for a pre dinner "snack", played Legos and read to him before bed.

Last Thursday was a virtual office day. In my former, bricks and mortar office life, I would wait until the end of the workday to pick up my veggie basket. This always stressed me out as I faced 5pm rush hour traffic, crowds at the co-op and the pressing need to get to my son's pre-school by 5:30 or face late pick-up fees. In my former office life, my husband, who is self-employed, took my son to karate lessons because I didn't have time.

Now typically all these tasks don't fall on my shoulders alone, but my husband was out of town last week for a family emergency. In my virtual office life I was able to get done what needed to get done and have the leisure to play with my son in the evening instead of telling him, "Sorry, mommy has chores to do," which is something I have been saying to him a lot.

After my son went to bed last Thursday I got back on the computer for about an hour and a half to answer emails and do some more work. I didn't do this because my boss is a time sheet natzi. Our office has always been a place where we could come and go as we needed as long as we got our work done. Yet, I never really felt comfortable taking off when there was work to do and other people in the office working. In my virtual office life I do.

My colleagues and I have good work ethics. We will continue to get done what needs to get done and take care of our clients. Working from home just allows us the freedom to manage the needs of our job and the needs of our families creatively.
Paige