Work After A Baby? A Mom’s Dilemma

Have you ever been confronted with the question, 'who will take care of the baby when you go back to the office?'

If yes, then hopefully we are sailing in the same boat and you will be able to connect with this article. I have been raised in a conservative joint family but with an extremely modern thinking set of parents. But after becoming a mother, shockingly it was my father who suggested me to give up my job, stay at home and take care of the baby. So, should I assume that my father really wanted me to do this? Or is it our community who has forced him to think like that?

Our parents do an excellent job of raising us with proper education and consequently motivating us to be an independent woman.

But when our parents have to guide us to make the biggest decision of our life – a family life OR career, they often land up being indecisive. Can we really blame only our parents?

If we look back at these situations, we cannot accuse any one entity completely. There will be an association who would always speak in favour of “homemakers” and there will be a set of people who will motivate you in pursuing your career.

After becoming a mother, during my maternity leave, I faced the dilemma of continuing job or giving up my job. Very often, I received phone calls or messages from my friends & relatives asking me questions like:

“Is your career so important that you have to give up spending time with your kid?”

“Is financial independence sweeter than your child?”

“Why don’t you get back to work when your kids grow up?”

I was extremely fortunate to have my mother’s support who motivated me to join back work. How much ever the technology progresses, and we feel proud of the globalization era, somewhere deep down in our hearts it seems we still have the ancient mentality that “women are born to take care of home”.

It is very often perceived that stay-at-home parents give more time to their kids. But is it quantity or quality that we should focus on? There are many stay-at-home parents who are tired of their monotonous life and repent their decision of giving up a career. Consequently, this repentance results in a dissatisfied mother who struggles to give quality time to their kids.

Avoid being influenced by people. Delve deep into your life goals and choose to be with like-minded people who will help you achieve the goals.