Returning to work

In scouring my favourite sites for some words of advice on how best to handle returning to work after a generous 28 weeks of maternity leave I came across two lovely articles from mum bloggers which have helped greatly so I wanted to share the links here The first from Liz of Mom 101, titled The Constant Battle

As I left her sobbing in the arms of her teacher, I wished so hard that I could just be 100% mom at this very moment. Not someone's employee. Not someone's creative director. Not someone's writer or editor or strategist needing to solve all the pressing advertising issues of our day. Not someone dressed in work clothes with a MetroCard in hand and a to-do list a mile long.

Just a mom who could pick my four year-old daughter up in my arms, take her home and say, "Okay honey, let's go home and be together. We'll try again tomorrow."

The second post is from blogger Jaelithe of The State of Discontent, who as a former nanny, remembers her charges also crying when their mum would leave for work and the guilt that mother must have carried with her all day and her post To My Friends who Who Work Outside Home is hugely comforting.  She gives the following advice;

Your children miss you when you cannot be with them. Of course they do.

.....But they love you, the whole of you, more than anything, and even at an early age, they understand that your career — your drive to create things of value with your skills and your mind, not just at home, but out in the wider world — is part of who you are.

And because they know that about you, they also know that one day they can also be great parents AND great workers.