The Work It, Mom! Blog
with Nataly
Hi, I am Nataly and I am the co-founder of Work It, Mom!
I write the daily Work It, Mom! Blog where I talk about issues affecting working moms, goings on in our Work It, Mom! community, new site features, updates,and contests. I also share my own juggle between work and family and love to see members jump in with comments. Come and visit often!
Nataly's profile on Work It, Mom!
For the first time in a VERY long time I work at a company where many of my colleagues are also friends. Not the best, close, share everything, talk all the time friends, but friends whose company I enjoy and whose lives I’m happy to be a part of.
I’ve definitely had friends from work before. (One of my great life friends is a woman I worked with for five years at a small firm — even though we now live in different cities and don’t see each other often, we’re still good friends.) But what I’ve missed during the latter parts of my career is working in an environment where I have a lot in common with many people — vs. just a few — and where people do spend time together outside of work. I’m now realizing just how important it is for me to be in a social work environment and how much I missed this energy during the last few years when I worked from home.
Because I work with a bunch of people I like, I’ve been doing something lately that I haven’t done since… well, since my daughter was born five years ago: I’ve been going out with my colleagues after work. Socializing after work was one of the first things I cut out after I became a mom. There was no way that I was going to spend a few hours hanging out with my colleagues instead of seeing my daughter. But now that she is older and I’ve realized that not being there for bedtime a few nights a month is not going to ruin her or me and will actually be good for both of us, I’m done with my iron clad rule of running home from work every single day.
So I’m curious, do you socialize with your colleagues outside of work? Of is this something you just can’t find the time to do?
Subscribe to blog via RSS
A couple of nights a month, sure. But I could never get into a regular habit of it without feeling enormously guilty.
Miss Britt | October 17th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Often depends on my husband’s schedule! He works for three different theatres and often works what you would consider second shift. Rehearsals are often in the evenings, so I am primarily responsible for picking up our daughter from school. Luckily, she goes to a full-day kindergarten that is part of a daycare, so I have until 5:30 to pick her up. I do try to get out with co-workers every so often. I work for an orchestra, so I will often go out with co-workers late after a concert if my daughter is already at home or at a babysitters.
Samantha | October 18th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
I socialize with good friends, regardless of whether they work with me. I would not often socialize (outside of work hours) with colleagues who were not also good friends.
I don’t get much time away from my kids outside of daycare hours, but I do stuff with colleagues who don’t have a problem with me bringing my kids. (I don’t go to bars and such anyway - never did - so my kids can go pretty much wherever I go.) Because I work very long hours, I have the most trouble finding time for my friends whom I don’t work with.
SKL | October 18th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
I don’t, but not because I’m a mom, it’s mainly because I’m at an age where I have all the friends I need/want, and I’m a lot pickier now about who gets to join my little circle. I still do make friends and close friends at work on occasion but it is much more rare now than it was in my 20s.
june | October 18th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Every-once-in-a-while but mostly because I work in an industry where many a connection from a golf outing, night out, sporting event, or workshop will later turn into a contract of some nature.
CV | October 19th, 2009 at 10:19 am
Every so often but I’ve reached the age where most of my coworkers are a good 10-15 years younger than I and I can feel old going out doing things with them.
Mich | October 20th, 2009 at 6:14 pm