Should it be called the "Flex Track" with no gender mentioned? It seems to depend on the career you've chosen.
Friends of mine who are attorneys often feel overwhelmed at trying to work fulltime for their firms, get 70 billable hours per week and try to be an effective hands-on parent too. Many of them, men and women, decide to leave the big law firms and either do legal consulting on the side at their own pace or work for a smaller boutique firm that is more understanding.
Doctors often put in brutally long shifts too that involve on-call hours on nights and weekends. Some of them decide to specialize in non-emergency fields so they can be more involved in their home life.
As a television journalist, I've been lucky doing the balancing act of working fulltime and parenting fulltime. It got harder when my marriage ended and I became a single parent when Jake was just one year old. I was working long hours, often doing split shifts at 3 a.m. and 3 p.m. to cover for a sick coworker for 3 years. But the reality is, my little boy got the wonderful benefit of having what felt to him like a stay-at-home mom. I was there by 7:15 a.m. when he woke up and wanted breakfast. I was there to play with all day, take him to gymnastics, music class or to the Crayola Crayon Factory in Easton, Pa. I put him down for his nap every day at 2pm and came back to work while he was sleeping. When he woke up at 4pm, it seemed that he only had a babysitter for 2 ½ hours before mom was back home at 6:30pm.
Really, it doesn't get any better than that.
That was a decade ago and now Jake is 11 years old. When people ask him what it's like having a mom who works, he's the first to say it's great! I got to go to every school play, musical performance, field trip (when parents were allowed to go), and volunteer at every school function. He sees tons of me at school and at all his sports events afterwards from baseball to basketball, flag football and snowboarding.
Now my hours are different but also child-friendly. I come to work midday and I'm home by dinnertime. So my 11-year-old gets lots of home cooked meals, homework help and fun time playing ping pong or watching movies. My toddlers get their mom's exclusive attention all morning while Jake is at school and they get their last feeding from me before being rocked to sleep every night by mom.
If you can find a job/career where you can successfully juggle both like I have, consider it a blessing!
This article by Rachel Silverman talks about how the tag line "Mommy Track" even started and whether it's still apropos 21 years later.
Enjoy her article and let me know what you think of the balancing act parents do and whether it's gotten better or worse for you.
Good luck everyone!
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