Jamie

Mom to Reece and Alana

TV Producer

Length of maternity leave: 10 weeks

Childcare: Daycare & Father

What did you struggle with most about returning to work after having your kids?

After having my daughter I was ready to return to work but when my son arrived two years later I struggled with leaving him. I knew he was our last and I just wanted to soak it all up. I breastfed him for 14 months. This kept me connected to being a mom while at work work and gave us a longer bonding period.

What do you find difficult about being a working parent?

Now my son is about to turn five and I still struggle. I just want to be home with them. I go to work early so my husband gets the kids to school. I am home early enough to pick them up but after school we are so busy with cleaning, cooking dinner and school stuff that I never feel like I really see them. Then on the weekends I am busy trying to make their every moment special that come Monday I am exhausted. I dread Monday not because I don’t love my job but because all I want to do is make my kids breakfast.

What do you enjoy about being a working parent?

I love being able to socialize with adults and get a break from the kids and house. I also enjoy the benefits but no amount of money makes missing my kids any easier.

After being back at work for some time, have your views about career and family changed?

When I returned to work after my son I jumped jobs a bit trying to find a better balance. Now I am taking night classes for a business degree. My hope is to empower other women to work, go back to school and do it all. We are natural multitaskers. Although I still wish I could be home it took my kids to make me appreciate my job and my career more. Lately I find myself seeking out ways to inspire women to speak their dreams, strategize and map out how they want to achieve their career and family goals.

Knowing what you know now, what’s one thing you wish you could go back in time and tell yourself as you were preparing to return to work or getting ramped up in your role?

This question makes me cry because I don’t know what more I could have done or do now. Just embrace it more, I guess and try to make even more of every moment at home. However I would tell myself to work out because it wasn’t until last year that I returned to the gym and started giving myself some self-love.

What did you choose for childcare, and how has it been for your family?

Daycare and a daddy who works at home

Pros: The kids get to be exposed to other kids