“Working” versus “staying at home” is a hot topic in the world of motherhood, and no two situations are the same. I don’t believe either have it harder or easier – the working mother, or the stay-at-home mother. Either way, you’re a mom, and that right there says a mouthful about the volume of your workload. This link is a great read — letters from a working mom to a SAHM…and vice versa.

I’m fortunate to be in a position to choose, and for me, in my career and as a mother, and for us and our family, the decision for me to work versus stay home was pretty clear.

I wanted to do both.

Going part-time looks different for everyone. For me, I will alternate spending two and three days of the work week in the office for my day job, an arrangement I will be eternally grateful to my employer for allowing me. The other two and three days (depending on the week) I will be at home, setting aside one of those mornings for shooting sessions for ClickSmith, and editing/marketing/communicating with clients on a schedule built around nap times. Between the two jobs, it feels like I’m ultimately piecing together a nearly full-time workload, but doing so is all by choice, and wonderfully flexible, so that my newest job of mama can always come first.

This also means that our little guy will get exposure to both worlds. I am thrilled for him to experience the socialization and structure of some regular days at day care, a world I knew nothing about before being pregnant, having been raised by a stay-at-home mom. I had less-than-stellar expectations, but was pleased again and again at what I saw as we visited options around our part of town. I get it now. Day care is a win for kids, not a consolation prize because, “Mom has to go to work”. It will make us better parents in so many ways. The break allows us to be refreshed for quality time when we are with him, and the guidance of his sitter/teachers will help us learn how to better parent.

I’m thankful my son will get to see his mother work, to think and solve problems, and go after her own goals. If he is married someday and tackling the same work versus stay home question with his own wife, I want him to have examples of how it can work both ways. I’m equally grateful that I can be home with him just as many days in the week, focusing on him and our family’s home life, creating some balance for us all. I’m grateful to be able to be hands-on in educating this little man, from reinforcing manners to going on adventures, all the while building our relationship and learning all I can from him.

There are adjustments for everyone — finances, schedules, and the switch on/off from work brain to mom brain are all things we are figuring out as we go. But I’m very grateful for the opportunity to give it all a go. To the next phase in life for our family!