But Mom, Working at Home Has Changed

My mother never worked at home. She worked for over twenty years in the big main branch of the Lansing Post Office. If she ever gave working at home any thought at all she certainly never talked about it.

When I announced that I was quitting my full time job to work at home I think she wanted to have me checked in for a brain scan.

‘But you finally have insurance again after all those years… why do you want to throw that away?’

‘You can’t possibly be making enough money at home to give up a regular paycheck… unless you’re going to start doing daycare again?’

Even though I assured her I did indeed make enough money at home to give up the regular paycheck, she expressed nothing but concern over my decision. The idea of not having a steady payroll to count on was too much.

She finally got around to asking, ‘So what exactly are you doing to make money? Are you selling something? Are you in one of those MLMs?’

In my mother’s generation there were two well known ways for a mother to make money at home. She could open her home up to other people’s children (Sign in the yard says: ‘Auntie Mae’s Daycare’) or she could join a direct sales company (Avon Calling!).

Of course there were other home business ideas, most involving domestic talents. A mom could offer seamstress services, do a little event catering, take in clothes to wash and iron. (Ug! I can’t stand to do my own ironing, let alone someone elses.)

I don’t know about you, but I’m glad that I’m working at home in this day and age because all of that sounds like a real drag.

I’m not anti-direct sales or daycare. I ran a group daycare for eight years after my son was born. There’s very good money in that business. I also did direct sales (Home Interiors) for about a year when Sean was a baby and I was still married to his father. A lot of moms still choose child care or direct sales as a way to make a living while ’staying home’ and if it’s a good fit for them, that’s great!

There’s good news for moms who want something different

• Moms who have more patience for their own kids than anyone else’s.
• Moms who would rather pluck their eyebrows than sell something.
• Moms who have to wear a sweater to cover the iron burn on the back of their new blouse.
• Moms who have a hard enough time planning a meal for five, let alone fifteen.

Today, if you want to stay home and still contribute to the family budget or put your skills and interests to work - you have a lot of options and that is just the sort of thing I’ll be posting about in the future here on the WAHM 2.0 Blog at Sparkplugging