Before I became pregnant, I looked at stay at home mothers and thought they were selfish. "Why is your boyfriend or husband the sole provider of your family? Why can't you go out there and make money yourself? This is not the 1950s, and you are no Donna Reed." Those were actual thoughts I was thinking. But when I was pregnant, I found myself working one job, then left to do temporary work. My plan then was to keep doing temp work on up to March, which was when Elliot was due. The plan lasted only one temp job which ended three days before Christmas. In January I called the temp agency's office to inform them that I was still available for work, and they said they would keep in touch. That was the last time I heard from them. Weeks past and as I grew bigger, my hopes of finding employment slimmed. During that time, I didn't think of stay at home moms as selfish, in fact I didn't think anything of them except I just didn't know why they chose to remain at home, though each reason is different than the next.
March 19, my son was born and it finally hit me-many of these stay at home moms want to watch their kids grow up. Not much they can see if they're dropped off at the babysitter's or day care in the mornings. I just gave birth to my little boy, who shared the same body as me, and I couldn't leave him with familar faces for long stretches of time for work, let alone with strangers. It became clear to me that I wanted to stay home with Elliot. But I have to bring in money also, especially if I want to leave my parent's house. While working at a hotel last year, I was coming home from work and in front of me was a van with decals on the back with a website about moms working at home. I wrote down the name of the site, but also expected not to use it. After deciding to find work I can do at home, I contacted the woman from the site, and she explained what the company she worked for was about. I was intrigued, yet careful because scams happen even when the computer was shut off. The woman contacted a few days later to present a presentation via internet. I had my pen and paper ready for notes and questions to jot down. As she continued after 15 minutes, boredom found it's way to me. The company did not sound interesting, and quite frankly, it seemed like a lot more work than I was prepared to do. She told me she would call in a few days so I would have time to process all that I heard and seen and to gather any questions. There was no need. I didn't want to do it. I declined the oppertunity when she called back.
Then I started Googling work at home jobs, and link after link seemed to be a scam. Again, I was losing hope, and the possiblity of day care reared its ugly head into the picture. I found administrative assistant positions and sent in my resume. My resume never looked its best, but it was as clean as I could make it, and included all the important parts. Besides the familar rejection letter, I recieved no word, or call. My mind went back to work at home oppertunities. I dug a little deeper this time in the world wide web, and I came across this book that I am currently reading, The Work at Home Success Bible: A Complete Guide for Moms by Leslie Truex. It's a wonderful guideline for moms (and dads) who wish to work at home. It's not a book of websites that are not scams and guaranteed job oppertunities, but she gives you the good and ugly side of working at home. It's not for everyone, but for those who can and will actually work at home, she gives great advice on how to make it happen. I even cleaned up my resume.
Working at home for me can and will be a challenge, for I suffer from procrastination and distractions. But if it means providing for my Elliot so that our new family may have a place of our own, then I will unplug the tv, turn off the phone, and put on horse blinders. I want the chance to watch my little guy grow up with all the milestones such as crawling, talking, and walking. But I also need to have a source of income. Sometimes you can have your cake and eat it too.
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