Strategy
From a career mum’s perspective, the most critical strategy you need to develop is your childcare strategy.
Your childcare strategy is invariably a jigsaw puzzle of you and your partner’s own time, grandparents, day care and nannies. And it is an everchanging jigsaw puzzle that morphs over time. If both you and your children are happy, you’re not going to feel as guilty about being a career mum. This invariably comes when you are getting enough quality one-on-one time with your child each day. From both parents!
In Not Guilty, the Strategy chapter helps you think about some of the questions you might consider when deciding on your childcare strategy, including the type of care best for your child, as well as the pros and cons of day care, parental care, employing a nanny, or grandparent care.
Optimisation is the key, not perfection
Childcare is such an emotionally-charged topic, and it’s easy to become overwhelmed with guilt. Everyone will have a different opinion of what’s the right thing to do, and no-one will ever parent your child exactly like you.
Also, children’s needs change as they grow, and what’s the best for them as a baby will be different to what works for them as a pre-schooler. And what worked for your first child may not work for your other children.
Just like parents, no childcare solution will ever be perfect!
So your childcare strategy will depend on weighing up things like:
- the age and personality of your child,
- the number of hours in care,
- the quality of care, and
- your family’s financial situation.
And if you arm yourself with the necessary information and put your child first, you won’t go far wrong, regardless of which decision you make.
Want to enjoy both motherhood and your career without feeling guilty?
Find out more about how Not Guilty can help you change from exhausted, guilt-ridden headless-chicken to happy career woman, wife and mother…at least some of the time!