According to this article I just read in the New York Times more companies are allowing moms to bring their babies to work.

My reaction, as I read it, was why would anyone want to bring their child to work? Granted, I’ve never worked for a company that allowed this, but I don’t see the appeal. As things stand I struggle constantly to give 100% of my attention to my daughter when I am with her and to my work when I am working — I think this would be nearly impossible to do if my daughter were, in fact, right there where I work. I’m also fairly certain that having a baby running around an office is at least somewhat distracting to other people who work there, even if they absolutely positively adore babies and have lots of their own.
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The Duggars have 18 children. They had 17 at the time I was reading this interview with them over at ParentDish, but their newest baby was just born. 18. I am just going to type that again so you know it’s not a typo.

But back to the interview. As I was reading it I started to think about how families make the decision about how many kids to have. Because I think it’s one of those, you know, LIFE DECISIONS, which might come easy to some but is likely emotionally and otherwise charged for others.
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According to a new study, if you’re an ambitious and competent woman your next job interview might not go so well. According to a new study in Psychology of Women Quarterly:

Women who present themselves as confident and ambitious in job interviews are viewed as highly competent but also lacking social skills. Women who present themselves as modest and cooperative, while well liked, are perceived as low on competence. By contrast, confident and ambitious male candidates are viewed as both competent and likable and therefore are more likely to be hired as a manager than either confident or modest women.
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Between the redesign of Work It, Mom! (Did you check it out? Do you like it? If you don’t, i don’t want to hear from you for at least a week.) and the Thanksgiving holiday I’ve missed reading several articles about the momification of Michelle Obama. But now I’m caught up and I have a few things to say on the topic, not surprisingly.

As background, what upsets some working women, and what has been termed the momification of Michelle Obama, is her decision to put her career on hold and her announcement that once Barak Obama becomes our next President she will assume the role of mom-in-chief. As a working woman whose career is very important to me I don’t get what the fuss is all about.
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Photo from LA Times

The latest political buzz is hard to escape — apparently President-elect Obama has offered Hillary Clinton the job of Secretary of State. Yes, unofficially, unconfirmed, rumored, but seemingly true if you trust the many news outlets reporting this.

What I’ve found really fascinating in all the discussions is how much her husband is playing into the picture.
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Hundreds of thousands of people each month search on Google for “work from home jobs” (yes, I checked.) “Work from home” is one of the most popular searches right here on Workitmom.com and sites that claim to list work from home jobs get tons of traffic (whether they are actually listing good opportunities or not is another question all together.) I, personally, get many emails each week from our members asking if I could suggest jobs they can do from home.

Why do so many moms want to work from home? (I know that many non-moms do too, but we’re a community for moms, so let’s talk about ourselves, shall we?)

Let me start with somewhat of a confession: I kind of hate working from home.
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I thought on the eve of this historic, incredible, exhausting election tomorrow I’d take a virtual walk through some of what Work It, Mom! bloggers and members have written and said about it during the last few months:

Perhaps not surprisingly, Sarah Palin’s nomination as the Republican VP has been a topic of much heated discussion, including here on the Work It, Mom! Blog.

Working moms have poor family values, the Sarah Palin edition

Don’t blow kisses at work, Sarah Palin

Will Sarah Palin be the ultimate working mom?

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I spent the past two days presenting Work It, Mom! and connecting with other media women entrepreneurs at this incredible event called All Things Media. The purpose of the event was to bring together some great women starting media companies (hey, someone thought I should be invited, yay for them!) with investors and media partners. I won’t go into a lot of details and will only say that when women get together with the goal of supporting each other the empowerment and the energy are insanely amazing.

I met some wonderful women at the event, many of whom are working mothers. As I was coming home late last night I found myself replaying some of the bits of conversations we had or I’d overheard between them and thought I’d share them here. (You know, kind of like Overheard in the Office, but a working mom edition.)

On Halloween…

“My husband and my two kids are coming to the airport to meet me on Friday so we can go trick-or-treating together. The kids will already be wearing their costumes since I’ll be cutting it so close. I feel like a superhero that I found a way to make it home for Halloween.”

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I am typing this post from a very nice and large and plush bed in a very nice and pretty room in a very nice and spiffy hotel in Chicago. No, don’t get excited, this is not vacation — I am here on a business trip for two days. This morning I left the house at 6am with a small carry-on bag, my laptop, and a huge load of business trip guilt. I wouldn’t see my kiddo for two full days. My husband will be shuffling around his meetings and schedule to manage drop-offs and pick-ups. And next week I have another trip, again for two full days. The guilt-meter is pushing to the max.
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Whenever I meet a fellow working mom the conversation inevitably turns to the practical side of our daily juggling act: What are the hours for your daughter’s preschool? Do you have back-up care? Who stays home when kids are sick or there is a snow day? The logistics of the juggling act are rarely simple.

So the other night while watching Sarah Palin on SNL I wondered — oddly for the first time since watching her on the campaign trail — about the logistical arrangements she has in place to help her juggle a high profile job and a large family. I didn’t recall reading anything specific about it in any of the extensive press coverage so I went Googling away.
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