In the Cube: Tales from Working Mom Blogs

Posted by Charlene Prince Birkeland

I've got summer fever. On top of trying to keep a grip on my family's schedule, my workday makes me feel like a little kid during the last week of school. When I wake up in the morning to gloriously hot and sunny weather -- or cool misty fog -- I want to play. When I pick my son up from summer camp or see my littlest one off with his babysitter, I want to play.

Taking a stroll around the working mom blogs realm I'm glad to find I'm not the only gal with summer fever. And it's making me feel just a wee bit better. Here's what's happening In the Cube:

Career an Kids: Elizabeth has vacation on the brain, too, and ponders how working parents shut off the "work" button and click into relaxation mode. She also offers some good tips to get help get moms and dads into the vacation mood. I like her advice to "Do nothing in 'absolutes,'" as in, "I'm NOT going to check my voicemail/email/crackberry" while I'm on vacation." Oh, the pressure. It is your vacation -- give yourself a little freedom and if checking your voicemail at home is going to make your feel more relaxed, well then, do it. (Just don't go into tailspin if you hear your the voice of your boss.)

The Juggle: Sara Schaefer Muñoz wonders if working parents are taking more vacation time then allocated as part of their paid time off. If you factored in all the times a dad or mom had to leave early from work for a soccer game or daycare pick up, maybe...if those hours weren't made up on the back end when parents are making up for missed work time after the kids are in bed. I know I stayed up many a late night in my previous work life making up for lost "office" time. But I don't consider that taking more vacation time than allocated. As for using paid time off, consider this. When I quit my job, I had a check coming to me for three weeks of vacation. I liked the cash, but wow, I wish I had traveled with my husband and at the time, one son, more often.

The Work/Life Balancing Act: Cindy Krischer Goodman laments that "summer can be cruel to career goals." Tell me about, sister. She riffs on Eric Albertson's idea of setting unreasonable career goals to move ahead and lists a few of his recommendations on how do to so. His tips seem reasonable and even doable, except for item number two: "THINK about it all the time. Obsess about it. Don't push it out of your mind." If there's one thing I don't want to do, it's obsess about something work related. There is this thing called work-life balance I'm trying to acheive. (Hey! I wonder if that's my unreasonable career goal? I can obsess about that.)

Marketing Mommy: Alma's got her own special brand of summer vacation going on at Marketing Mommy. She went on maternity leave on July 3rd and awaits the arrival of her second baby. I remember that day well, Alma. Now we have to wait for her big announcement. Congratulations, Alma, and enjoy your time away.

What's going on in your cube?

Comments

[Selfmademom]

Thank you for this!? I just got back from a week's vacation, and I am so not ready to be back at work. Oh well.