“Work is a break for me” and “Heading home now to the real job” are some of the comments I used to hear from work colleagues who were parents – this was before I had children myself, and really, I didn’t believe them. Surely they were just trying to make
“Weekends and Christmas are sacred . One of my reasons for leaving the hospital was so that I’d never miss Christmas Eve or Christmas morning with my husband and kids.” For the twelfth instalment in the Office Mum interview series, I meet Nicola O’Byrne who is a lactation consultant in
“lower your standards! Housework can wait. If everyone is fed
The night before returning to work after Christmas, many of us feel The Fear; lying awake, mind buzzing, right at the time when we really, really need to sleep. But this is a just momentary quiver in comparison to the all-consuming, stomach-churning fear that some of us experience the night before returning to work
“it is the simple things that I find the hardest – like my child being invited to a birthday party mid-week and I can’t bring them, so have to ask another parent to bring him so he doesn’t miss out” The first interview for 2014 is with June Tinsley who
This is my 100th blog-post. And tomorrow is New Year’s Eve. So I’m thinking that it might be OK for me to say something about that – about my first year of blogging. For me, 2013 has been a year of engagement. Not the diamond-ring type – that was a decade
“I’m a firm believer that women can do everything men can, only better and with more humility!” Jill O’Herlihy has worked in Communications at O’Herlihy Communications for the past 17 years. She is mom to two children; Martha is six and Bill is three and a half. She doesn’t have
” you don’t have to be a SAHM to be a good parent. This is just how I can be a good parent” This week’s interview is with Laura Murray, a mum of one-and-a-bump who is at home full-time. She blogs at MyInternalWorld, and here she gives an honest picture of life
After reading “Here’s why we need to start asking men – how do you do it all?” I started to really think about why we don’t ask men this question, and about all the other questions we are asked as women. Can you picture a man being asked any of
“just because you have a uterus should not mean you can’t have a career;
you don’t have to leave your career aspirations in the maternity ward”
Continuing the series of interviews about being a mother and balancing work and home, I speak to Elizabeth McDonnell who is an optometrist and mother of four small children. She and her husband are also sharing their lives with chickens, hens, ducks, geese, turkeys and their beloved Alpacas.
A thought provoking piece appeared in the Independent this week by Miriam Donahue, recounting how she once broke the glass ceiling but then handed back her promotion in favour of having time with her family. She makes very good points about quotas, about women in politics and women on air.
Mothers: what is the solution? With working outside the home I mean, and the attempts to balance. I have never met a mother with whom I haven’t had this conversation – the one about work. All of the below conversations took place over a two week period, just a typical fortnight
“ Late night in front of the TV with a glass of wine is often where I get my best work done…and don’t ask about cleaning, laundry or grocery shopping… that just happens on an as needed basis!” This week in the Office Mum interview series, I meet Nicola Finnerty,
It’s two months now since our nanny upped and left after just four days, with no notice and almost no notification of any kind. We were not impressed (the tears are almost visible here). She will be on the family blacklist FOREVER. I spent the following weeks worrying about work and
“I think once you become a parent, guilt is inevitable” “I often feel like I am present physically but trying to work on something myself while doing homework/cooking dinner etc. I feel like I may be around
The perpetuation of so-called mummy-wars assumes that there is a distinct split between just two types of mothers: those who go out to work in paid employment and those who stay at home with their children. Black and White. Opposite ends of the spectrum. Apparently. And it has reared it’s
This is the first in a series of interviews with mothers; chatting about home and work and family, and that elusive balance that we all seek. Topics range from childcare to career changes, working from home to stay-at-home mothers, setting up businesses, fitting in homework, the ever-present guilt, and mostly,
Maternity benefit has been cut in this week’s budget to €230 per week, down from €262*. This is getting some attention in the media, but understandably, it is overshadowed by more hard-hitting changes. There have been some comments from ISME, One Family, and from the Director of the National Women’s
Is there really a glass ceiling for women in the workplace? Or is it for the most part, something experienced by mothers in the workplace? I realise that this is a controversial question but I’m genuinely interested to know if there are people reading who have been held back in the workplace simply because
Birthdays. They must be perfect. Nobody ever said that that’s a rule, but it is. If you have children, you want them to remember birthdays as their best days ever, don’t you? And realistically, as a parent of small kids, how many days are likely to run smoothly enough to