Weekend Pick from Parenting in the Loop

Weekend Pick from Parenting in the Loop

 

Fall weekend

Fall is upon us as is the school schedule along with holiday celebrations like Halloween  are not far off. The weekend fills up fast with Fall activities like apple picking, pumpkin patch visits, football games and raking leaves.

Fall is my second favorite season only to Spring which brings more light back into my windows on the world. I love the seasonal changes but the darkness and gloom of the midwest winters sometimes take a toll on my energy level.

My Fall weekends are precious especially if they are sunny ones that are accompanied by the gold and reds of the trees telling their final stories before the slumber of winter.

Along around mid-September If you are like me your work schedule revs up and if you work from home the distractions are innumerable. Some of you are trying to do chores and run a business from your home with a baby or a toddler in tow. If that is the case then this post is definitely for you.

I am so excited about this piece! I’ve wanted for so long to find someone like Jamie Krenn to address these issues and questions for those of us who work at home, because no matter what type of parent you are- it is overwhelming to mix anything with caring for small children. We all need to know about what this wonderful, resourceful woman has to say about how to juggle the schedule of emotions within parenthood and work. Join Jamie Krenn at CoHatchery in Park Slope for a workshop this Friday, August 26th, from 4:30-6pm about working from home, more productively. Here’s a helpful Q&A, enjoy!

~Rebecca Conroy, Editor of A Child Grows in Brooklyn

Source: A Work-from-Home Workshop Not to be Missed! | A Child Grows in Brooklyn

Chicago may be rainy this weekend but that just might offer some time to change out summer clothes for the cozy layers that cooler weather requires or maybe even sink into the sofa with a good book.

Whatever you do enjoy your time with family and friends this weekend.

Working Moms…What do you think of Marissa’s Policy Change at Yahoo?

IMG_2122Working moms of all stripes were excited last summer when Yahoo! named Marissa Mayer CEO, even as her maternity leave loomed just a few months away. Yes, she soon concerned us fellow working parents when she immediately committed publically to a two-week maternity leave. But I still had hope. We all knew she had a troubled company to turn around — maybe her plan was to lead by example with a flexible work schedule?

via Marissa Mayer, Flexibility Isn’t the Problem at Yahoo! | workingmother.com.

 

As a registered nurse, I was never part of a workforce that could work remotely or from home. We did have “flex-time”, which was another type of scheduling option that allowed us some amount of work time flexibility.

I have to admit, that I am not that surprised by Marissa Mayer’s policy change at Yahoo, since she opted for only a 2 week maternity leave.  Most moms and even dads realize that 2 weeks is hardly enough time to get to know a newborn much less appreciate the entire lifestyle change brought on by the birth of a child especially when it is your firstborn. But when you are a CEO of a large tech company, it seems, perhaps motherhood has to take a backseat to your corporate responsibility.

Working from home is not new…it would seem that Yahoo because of its’ technology focus would embrace this flexible work from home concept and welcome today’s generation into this ever changing tech environment. It would also seem not unreasonable that Yahoo would look to other companies like Google, that offer so many worker friendly amenities in their fiercely competitive corporation.

To me, making the workplace friendly to moms and dads with family friendly perks makes so much sense. A happy worker is usually a productive worker.

Marissa, I would say, you have really missed a few rungs along the way up the corporate ladder and I think you may find out that it is very lonely at the top, sooner than you ever imagined.

Moms and dads what do you think about this policy change at Yahoo?

Do you think other companies will do the same?

Related links:

http://www.thetamom.com/2013/02/on-marissa-mayer-and-the-telecommuting-ban/

http://www.phdinparenting.com/blog/2013/2/24/marissa-mayer-and-sheryl-sandberg-when-executive-women-keep.html

http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/25/yahoos-blow-to-work-family-balance/

USA TODAY.