Last week I was stuck indoors with a weather-related migraine and was happy for the heavy snow to begin because it meant my headache would soon clear. It also meant I didn’t go to any events with or without my baby, had limited screen time and spent as much time as possible lying horizontal, in between parenting.
Sick or not, I am still the primary caregiver and even though our toddler is in childcare for part-time mornings four days per week, I load up the baby and do daycare pick up the majority of the time to bring him home after his lunch. Then I am home with two kids under three years old until the husband comes home from work. Some days it’s magical, other days it’s a marathon of making sure everyone gets fed and is relatively content until bedtime routine rolls around.
We have one set of grandparents not too far away but only one is semi-retired so we take their help and visits whenever we can to break up the mayhem and give both boys a good amount of one-on-one time.
Luckily, my husband can work remotely if necessary so he stayed home for one of the days with us as I couldn’t drive (safely). There was a snowstorm overnight and throughout the next day so we also skipped on our morning daycare and all of us stayed home while I attempted to rest.
As an exclusively breastfeeding mom with a 99th percentile baby who is also teething and wants to cosleep the majority of the time, I use the term ‘rest’ loosely. In an ideal world, I would have Denise Duffield-Thomas level help but I’m working on it and as she says, “hello white privilege!” I know I’ve won the ovarian lottery to begin with and am fortunate to be living in the country and city I do.
I’m also currently on mat leave but it’s times like these when I truuuuuly want to shout from the rooftop, “flexible work matters!” Whether it be a health-related matter, family emergency, snowmageddon causing school bus cancellations or all of the above, flexible work options can increase productivity, decrease use of sick or vacation days and help improve your people’s loyalty and work culture, when they’re in a pinch but are still capable of delivering and meeting their deadlines.
Remote work options: work from home, coworking or somewhere in between?
As we approach 2019, have a think about where your workflow is at and whether it suits your current lifestyle and future goals.
Do you work for someone else? If so, is it in an office environment or do you telecommute, remote work, gig it or otherwise?
Are you a freelancer or solopreneur? Do you work best from home or a third space?
Do you employ or manage others? How flexible are you with their requests and do you trust your team?
I understand not every business model suits a remote arrangement but there are also part-time, job sharing, contracting, shift work options and not everyone is viewing money as the ultimate goal. Flexibility isn’t really a value-add or nice to have anymore…it’s becoming more of an essential.
Curious to hear others thoughts, opinions, experiences with this. I’ve worked on contract, as a freelancer and remote worker in service based roles for most of the past decade, from a few different countries and have some good tips I’ll be sharing over the coming months!
Also if you have remedies for weather pressure related migraine relief, I’m all ears.
Family-friendly coworking
An opportunity to practice what I preach: Since baby is in a sleep regression and I am the primary caregiver, when I was offered a space at a local coworking spot, it was another #BYOBaby moment!
Why not take it up another level and bring them to a get a tour, have a business meeting and pitch something all at once?
This snap is of us on our first stage – no one in the audience (yet). Still counts (right)? Thank you for the tour of your space, parking pass, questions and ideas Coworkly Ottawa, much appreciated by us both.
We’re cooking up something special with them, targeting parents in 2019.
Stay tuned and for more info about my pilot program ‘Babies, Business and Breakfast’.
Recent positive feedback from subscribers:
“I love this!!!! Congrats Amy, I can’t wait to go to Invest Ottawa. You rock, thanks for all your trailblazing work for mamas!”
“I so appreciate what you’re doing. I have always been career driven so it has been quite a transition being on maternity leave. I crave all the same things you touch on in your posts.”
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Notes From Another Land 