Upload Your Mom Tips
Thursday, September 15, 2011 8:00AM
Are you a mom who does it all? We want to know your tricks for balancing work and home.
Do you outsmart the bake sale with semi-homemade shortcuts, or do you go with store-bought? Do you have a unique way to check-in during the day? Do you have ways to speed up lunch-making?
If this sounds like you, please fill out our form and share a video to help other moms out there. Tell us about yourself, your family, and your best tips for balancing it all. Your video could be featured on our show or website.
Filed Under: As Seen On The Show
Comments
Hey Anderson, here in Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada...LOVE your show! We saw this Youtube video and thought of you instantly, that you would love to show this on your show at some time...hope this link comes through and that you enjoy it, Anderson!
Sheryl Greig
sbgreig@shaw.ca
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=396985653717678
I have two boys, Luke and Nicholas who are 24 and 19. They have been my greatest joy, and... sometimes...my greatest frustration. :) I became a single Mom when Nicholas, my youngest was nine months old, and I remained a single Mom for seventeen years. I LOVED raising them!!! I was a Math Teacher so we didn't have alot of money, but we were very close. But, at times it WAS hard juggling work, their football games, their basketball games, church, church choir, house work and repairs! So...I tried to do it all! Somehow the years have gone by and now they are both young men. If I could gently remind young Moms..."the days are sometimes long when you are raising children, but the years are very short!" Time will FLY By, i promise. When they were little, they would cry when I would leave them. Now, I cry when they leave me. Cherish the sweet years they are entrusted to you.
Not all moms have a choice between having it all or not. There are a lot of single moms who bear a hefty financial responsibility in addition to their need to excel at work (women have to do it better in order to get the respect that men get) and the responsibility to be the emotionally nurturing parent a child needs - nevermind school requirements, bake sales, gymnastics practice, homework and the daily upkeep of house, child and life.
I WAS an Air Traffic Controller and it was a lot easier than being a single mom (or a remarried mom, for that matter.)
The perfect solution to achieve the perfect balance between family & office, is "work at home" programs. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has lots of studies & research showing increase of productivity for mothers who work at home (twice, 3 times a week). This lessens traffic, stress related to traffic, waste of time commuting, less consumption of power at the office, and many other benefits, not the least of which "allows mothers to do the two things that they love: (1) raise their children, (2) use their skills & education to do jobs they love & studied & trained for..... then of course the added benefit to the society of "gaining a productive brain" rather than wasting these women's talents & education doing just house work.
OPM has found that no matter how much they inform managers that this program has all the benefits and almost NO disadvantages at all, managers are reluctant to apply it. As a matter of fact, managers' reluctance is the main obstacle in applying OPM's recommendation & allowing employees to work more days at home.
Worse yet, WOMEN managers are almost exclusively the ONLY managers who resist applying the program & stand vehemently opposed to it. But this is due to "woman on woman bullying in the workplace" which is another story altogether.... maybe a topic for a whole new show.
Its so very hard to balance your work life with family life. Being a mom, a cook, a wife, a lover, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a cleaner and a super organizer is simply hard work. We all blow it a lot of the times and we do rely on semi cooked food at Whole foods to help with dinners. Clearly its only in the western world that all this is expected of women. Just fyi, having a smart phone helps!!
I think that Moms should remember "you can have it all" just maybe not all at the same time!
"Having it all" means making the best of your own cir***stances with your own individual family. When I was raising a family in the seventies I realized that my generation had their lives half way into the working world and half way out. It was a continual dilemma within ourselves if we were doing the right thing. We were judged whether we worked or not because we were the generation that had to break the ice with our husbands that we needed their help when we worked. Many men were willing but many men felt like it wasn't fair because that was not the way it was in their homes when they were growing up. It all comes down to respect for each person in a marriage that individuals have to do what they need to do and that each marriage partner supports the other. Operating your family with organization and like one big team no matter what a person decides to do is the only formula for success. Plan breaks for each other as a couple to be role models for your children. Don't forget to give your children the gift of their grandparents in their lives. Going to visit Grandma and Grandpa will give your family the supportive backbone that it needs to support your decisions. Being a parent is the toughest job that you will ever have for your entire life!
I would like to say that Anderson has a great show and has a lot to offer as a person who shows his love for what he is doing! I wish him the best of luck for a long running show!
I read a quote once, sorry I donn't remember who said it, but I thought it was profound at the time and it was this "You can have it all, just not all at the same time!" and I thought that was so true. I was in real estate and then quit to be a full-time stay at home mom, ended up having a home daycare of no less than 15 kids per day, not including my own 3. When my youngest was finally in all day school (1st grade) I went back to work on a part-time basis so that I could juggle the kids and work. I am also very domestic - love to cook, bake, clean, sew, do crafts, all the stuff most women don't really like to do anymore, so I always amazed everyone! My age now is 52 and I have 2 baby grandkids, and I love them to death, but when I recently had them both for a little while by myself, I sure could tell I was not as young as I used to be, because I couldn't seem to juggle as much as I did all those years ago!
Hey Mr. Cooper,
Nice job with the show so far. It looks like you've got yourself a hit! I was jus*****ching your segment with Jessica, Greg, Christina, and Olivia. What delightful group of guests. It was great to hear their stories of moms and to see the moms you had on the show today.
While society may consider this an anomaly some of us are stay at home dads. I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis several years ago and had to retire from my career. Now my wife is the bread winner and I make sure the kids are fed, clothed, and get to school on time. The fact is that I never really appreciated what my wife did for so many years until I lived her life. One thing though is when we carve pumpkins....we do it with power tools!
Keep up the great work! Cheers.