8 Steps to Being a Great Working Mom


Book Description

This book give practical tips and advice to all parents, but especially working moms, about how to juggle the many roles we have in life and feel good about our success as a parent. Each chapter ends with exercises designed to help ensure that the reader can put these tips to use, as well as "Sanity Savers" - key ideas from each chapter. The author, Gretchen Gagel, has held numerous executive positions, is working on her fourth degree, and is the loving mother of two great kids who are college students. But mostly, she is a "Great Working Mom" and wants to help you be one too! A portion of the proceeds from this book support two outstanding nonprofits focused upon helping single working moms, Warren Village in Denver Colorado (www.warrenvillage.org) and Safehouse Outreach in Atlanta (www.safehouseoutreach.org). From the Author: "Years ago a friend was having her first child and said to me "You always have it all together, even with traveling every week - how do you do it?" What an amazing facade of calm I was putting forth! It was then that I realize that we are all working so hard to be great parents, great employees, great spouses, etc. but we rarely share the challenges we face, both men and women. If this book accomplishes one thing, I hope that it will help working parents feel less stress and less guilt. Please lighten up on yourself. We all make mistakes. We all have days that we feel like we're not doing any of our roles very well. But we are "great" because we work hard every day to care for our families and our companies. We are not "perfect," we are "great." We care. If we are all a little gentler on ourselves, a little less stressed, we'll have better relationships with our kids, our spouses, our families, our friends, and our fellow employees. I am on a mission to not only get this book into the hands of every working parent, but to continue the healthy dialogue about how we all make it all happen on a daily basis!"




Moms For Hire


Book Description

Moms For Hire is a stylish, eight-step guidebook for moms who want to re-enter the workforce and amp up their professional mojo. Whether you downsized your bustling career to raise your children, or you chose the full-time job of being a stay-at-home mom, you now feel ready to get back in the work game, but re-entry can be intimidating. Using creative exercises, advice, and anecdotes from well-known working moms, this book will become a guide to creating your own successful re-entry strategy. From simply giving voice to your desire to work, to learning how to negotiate the best deal once you land the dream job, Moms For Hire guides you through each step of the process in a way that keeps you motivated and inspired. The simple promise is this: if you commit one hour a day to this book, you can find rewarding work. The search for fulfilling employment requires plenty of will, stamina, and support; let Moms For Hire be your devoted partner as you step into this new, life-changing adventure.




Grace Like Scarlett


Book Description

Though one in four pregnancies ends in loss, miscarriage is shrouded in such secrecy and stigma that the woman who experiences it often feels deeply isolated, unsure how to process her grief. Her body seems to have betrayed her. Her confidence in the goodness of God is rattled. Her loved ones don't know what to say. Her heart is broken. She may feel guilty, ashamed, angry, depressed, confused, or alone. With vulnerability and tenderness, Adriel Booker shares her own experience of three consecutive miscarriages, as well as the stories of others. She tackles complex questions about faith and suffering with sensitivity and clarity, inviting women to a place of grace, honesty, and hope in the redemptive purposes of God without offering religious clichés and pat answers. She also shares specific, practical resources, such as ways to help guide children through grief, suggestions for memorializing your baby, and advice on pregnancy after loss, as well as a special section for dads and loved ones.




Power Moms


Book Description

A retired Wall Street Journal editor and mother compares two generations of women—boomers and GenXers—to examine how each navigates the emotional and professional challenges involved in juggling managerial careers and families. For the first time in American history, a significant number of mothers are heading major corporations, including General Motors, Ulta Beauty, and Best Buy. Over the past several decades, women have made gains throughout executive suites. Yet these “Power Moms” still struggle with balancing their management responsibilities with raising children. Joann S. Lublin draws on the experiences of the nation’s two generations of these successful women to measure how far we’ve come—and how far we still need to go. Lublin combines her own insights with those of eighty-five executive mothers across industries—including experienced public-company chiefs such as Carol Bartz, the first woman to command Autodesk and Yahoo; Hershey’s Michele Buck, DuPont’s Ellen Kullman, ITT’s Denise Ramos, and WW International’s Mindy Grossman—and twenty-five of their grown daughters. Lublin reveals how trailblazer boomers, many now in their sixties, often endured sweeping disapproval for their demanding management careers, even as their own daughters sometimes rejected their choices. While the second wave of executive mothers—all under forty-five—handle working parenthood with less angst, they still lead stressful lives. Power Moms provides lessons and advice to help today’s professional women, their families, and their employers navigate this challenging terrain. Lublin looks at the trade-offs mothers are too often forced to make between work and family and the root causes, including the dearth of large-scale paid parental leave and other family-friendly policies. While it celebrates the gains women have made, Power Moms makes clear how much more must be done to make being a working mother easier.




Working Mums


Book Description

Working Mums: Stories by mums on how they manage children, work and life is a collection of empowering stories that will make working mums everywhere laugh in sympathy and nod in recognition. The stories are from Australian mums doing a range of work in addition to raising their children, including working full-time, part-time or freelance, studying, or running their own businesses. The stories are different yet in many ways universal - not unlike the journey of parenting itself. The book's primary aim is to help working mums feel less alone in their challenges. In fact, as the stories show, sometimes it is those very challenges that lead to unexpectedly amazing opportunities for personal and professional growth. Contributors include: - Missy Higgins, singer-songwriter, musician, actor and activist - Alisa Camplin, former world champion aerial skier and Olympic gold medallist - George McEncroe, founder of Australia's first all-female rideshare service Shebah - Annie Nolan (Uncanny Annie), equality activist and social commentator - Chloe Chant, early childhood educator whose letter to a senator went viral - Kristy Vallely, founder of The Imperfect Mum online community - Simone McLaughlin, founder of Jobs Shared - Carly Naughton & Alee Fogarty, marriage equality advocates, blogger and tattoo artist and many more, from fields including health, academia, beauty, politics and small business. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 'Real mums sharing very real stories - warts and all - about the career upheaval becoming a mum often brings. If you are a working mum or about to become one, this is your go-to book!' - Debbie Hatswell, founder of Story Mama and Board Member, Children's Book Council of Australia If there's one conversation we need to be having more, it's the one about the complexities of being a working mother in Australia right now...There has to be a way to make it work and I really believe that sharing stories like these will help get us there.' - Lucy Kippist, Parenting Editor, Kidspot.com.au 'My journey's been about loving what I do, having a purpose and feeling that I'm making a difference. The stories in Working Mums truly echo that sentiment.' - Carolyn Creswell - Mum of four, Founder of international business Carman's Kitchen and Telstra Australian Business Woman of the Year




Mompowerment


Book Description




Working Mom Survival Guide


Book Description

Every day, working mothers encounter and overcome new challenges large and small at home, at the office, and on the road. From the editors of Working Mother, veteran working moms themselves, this book offers clear, straightforward solutions and practical shortcuts. From the experts at Working Mother magazine, Working Mom Survival Guide answers your most basic and trickiest questions: Are you addicted to your BlackBerry? How do you get your toddler, or your co-workers, to listen? How do you get on or off a mommy track? Access quickly the information every working mom needs to know—from how to keep tabs on your teen’s online time to how to ask for a flexible schedule—and get back to your busy day, better prepared and more confident. With humor and practicality, Working Mom Survival Guide collects the wisdom and experience of working moms who have been there, too, giving you a head start when you need it most. Subscription to Working Mother magazine included with purchase (details inside book). “As a busy professional and mom of three kids, I know it’s not possible to achieve total balance, but the Working Mom Survival Guide definitely makes juggling all these roles more manageable. This book is rich with practical advice on how to organize and prioritize and make life’s difficult decisions, so you can be your best self in the boardroom and in the playroom!” -Joy Bauer MS, RD, Today show nutritionist and The New York Times bestselling author “Three cheers for the Working Mom Survival Guide! One cheer for its common sense approach, one cheer for its thoroughness, and one big cheer for its sense of humor. Working moms need backup, and this book provides “been there, done that” advice that really resonates for everyday issues. The authors, Suzanne Riss and Teresa Palagano, write with authority and empathy for the millions of us trying to manage a career, kids, and the occasional ill-advised e-mail rant! This is a must-read for moms trying to raise independent, well-adjusted children in a crazy-busy world.” -Lian Dolan Parenting expert at oprah.com; creator of The Chaos Chronicles magazine column, podcast, and blog; and mom to Brookes, 16, and Colin, 13. “All moms have eighteen things to do at once. Make room for nineteen: reading this clever, cheerful, empathetic guide to streamlining your priorities as a working parent.” -Aline Brosh McKenna Screenwriter (The Devil Wears Prada, 27 Dresses, and Morning Glory) and mom to Charlie, 11 and Leo, 8. “A terrific resource for working moms who, like me, welcome fresh, realistic advice on juggling kids and career.” -Kristi Yamaguchi Figure skater, Olympic Gold Medal winner, author, and mom to Keara, 7, and Emma, 5.




The Better Mom


Book Description

Mothering is messy. Our joy and hope in raising children doesn’t change the reality that being a mom can be frustrating, stressful, and tiring. But just as God is using us to shape our children, God is using our children and motherhood to shape us. In The Better Mom, author Ruth Schwenk, herself a mother of four children, encourages us with the good news that there is more to being a mom than the extremes of striving for perfection or simply embracing the mess. We don’t need to settle for surviving our kids’ childhood. We can grow through it. With refreshing and heartfelt honesty Ruth emboldens moms to: Find freedom and walk confidently in purpose Create a God-honoring home environment Overcome unhealthy and destructive emotions such as anger, anxiety, and more Avoid glorifying the mess of mom-ing or idolizing perfection Cultivate life-giving friendships At the heart of The Better Mom is the message that Jesus calls us to live not a weary life, but a worthy life. We don’t have to settle for either being apathetic or struggling to be perfect. Both visions of motherhood go too far. Ruth offers a better option. She says, “It’s okay to come as we are, but what we’re called to do and be is far too important to stay there! The way to becoming a better mom starts not with what we are doing, but with who God is inviting us to become."




The MomShift


Book Description

The MomShift is the first book to exclusively research and showcase the stories of a diverse range of relatable women who share the multitude of ways in which they achieved greater career success after starting their families. Women are regularly told that having children will hurt their careers--until now. In The MomShift, Reva Seth talked to over 500 mothers from a broad range of professional and personal backgrounds who have defied cultural expectations and achieved greater professional success after starting their families. For these women and others like them, having children actually enhanced their work life: by helping them prioritize and set bigger goals, inspiring them to work harder and smarter or even spurring them to start their own businesses. As Rebecca Woolf--of Girl's Gone Child blog fame--puts it, "Motivation, thy name is parenthood." But as Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook has pointed out, when an already busy women starts thinking about having a child, she frequently steps back from her career goals, unable to picture how her already busy life will accommodate children. Enter The MomShift, which covers areas such as how much we really need to "lean in," whether there's a "best time" to have a baby, the benefits of re-framing maternity leave, ambition, financial concerns, the changing nature of careers, and whether work/life balance really exists for working mothers. Each chapter has discussion questions to keep the conversation going and the ideas percolating. The result is a reassuring, supportive and inspirational resource that emphasizes there is no one right way to balance careers and family, and that illustrates the many choices women have today. The MomShift is an invaluable career companion brimming with motivation, tips and ideas to help each woman to create her own version of career success during the often hectic but highly productive "mom" years.




Mommy Burnout


Book Description

The ultimate must-read handbook for the modern mother: a practical, and positive tool to help free women from the debilitating notion of being the "perfect mom," filled with funny and all too relatable true-life stories and realistic suggestions to stop the burnout cycle, and protect our kids from the damage burnout can cause. Moms, do you feel tired? Overwhelmed? Have you continually put off the things you need to do for you? Do you feel like it’s all worth it because your kids are happy? Are you "over" being a mother? If you answered yes to these questions, you’re not alone. Parents today want to create the ideal childhood for their children. Women strive to be the picture-perfect Pinterest mother that looks amazing, hosts the best birthday parties in town, posts the most "liked" photos, and serves delicious, nutritious home-cooked meals in her neat, organized home after ferrying the kids to school and a host of extracurricular activities on time. This drive, while noble, can also be destructive, causing stress and anxiety that leads to "mommy burnout." Psychologist and family counselor Dr. Sheryl Ziegler is well-versed in the stress that moms face, and the burden of guilt they carry because they often feel like they aren’t doing enough for their kids’ happiness. A mother of three herself, Dr. Z—as she’s affectionately known by her many patients—recognizes and understands that modern moms are all too often plagued by exhaustion, failure, isolation, self-doubt, and a general lack of self-love, and their families are also feeling the effects, too. Over the last nineteen years working with families and children, Dr. Z has devised a prescriptive program for addressing "mommy burnout"—teaching moms that they can learn to re-energize themselves and still feel good about their families and their lives. In this warm and empathetic guide, she examines this modern epidemic among mothers who put their children’s happiness above their own, and offers empowering, proven solutions for alleviating this condition, saving marriages and keeping kids happy in the process.