Between managing work, nurturing your family, maintaining your marriage, juggling friendships, and remembering to move the laundry from the washer to the dryer before all your clothes get mildewy, by a show of hands, how many of you out there feel like you’re dropping the ball somewhere? Mmm hmm. How many of you fee like, to some degree, you’re dropping ALL the balls?
Parents are spread so thin, we’re all pretty sure we’re majorly screwing something up. Getting anything accomplished becomes a compromise, because it inevitably means taking time and attention away from something else.
Brand new moms get indoctrinated into this mentality real quick when they return to work after maternity leave. Suddenly our passions and obligations are pulling us in so many different directions, it becomes physically and emotionally overwhelming. I remember running home after work feeling like a terrible mom because I was late but also knowing my team at work was pissed off that I had left before a project was finished. Was it possible to ruin both my daughter’s life and my professional goals at once? I have my own business now and I still feel like that a lot of the time.
Jessica O’Dowd, mother of 10-month-old Lyric, found herself facing those kinds of compromises when she was called in for a performance review shortly after her maternity leave ended. When asked what her greatest weakness was, she said, “Not finding time for everything I want.”
Amen, sister.
But the review turned out to be more positive than she expected. Watch below to see Jessica’s co-workers and loved ones tell her the things we ALL need to hear—and remember that no matter how many balls you’re dropping, there’s someone in your life thinking, “I have no idea how you’re achieving so much in the same amount of hours I have in a day.”
Keep in mind, this is an ad for Chicco, and this WOULD NEVER HAPPEN IN REAL LIFE. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if it did?
I just want to go on record saying— I love this video and everything it says, but I do not believe this is the norm. After all, I ended up getting laid off three months after maternity leave (undeservedly, I think) and my situation is not unique. A lot of women are severely penalized in the workplace when they have become mothers, whether their performance is impacted or not.
Let’s hope Chicco practices what they preach and that other employers follow suit.
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This is beautiful. It seriously made me cry. And, I’m *only* a stay at home mom.
I watched this for the first time while pumping on my first week back to work after 6 weeks of maternity leave. Obviously I cried like a baby. I did only get 6 weeks, but I am truly lucky to work for a company that openly appreciates me and allows me to put my family first without making me feel guilty. There are many many days that I don’t feel like I’m keeping all the balls in the air, but I know I’m lucky to feel secure in my job and that is one less thing I have to worry about.
Love love love. There is not nearly enough support in the workplace for mom’s (and dad’s). Whether it’s unpaid maternity leave or unfair stigma on them after returning to work and needing to take time to care for their kids in one way or another. IMO, we need some big changes in this country in those respects. Hopefully this video and others and lawmakers, especially, will help those changes come about.