Just in case you didn’t know, working moms are basically awesome. We manage everything from businesses and family life to relationships and the dinner menu—and we tend to do it with an ease that blows our counterparts’ minds (and trying not to let it show how hard it can be).
Whether you find yourself in the workforce chasing bold career goals, working towards or your passions or even out of necessity being a working mom can bring both rewards and challenges. Our choice to work raises independent children, pays the bills and fuels our sense of purpose––and we look darn good while doing it! (Think: backward and in heels.)
Here are eight more reasons working moms rock.
Working moms work a LOT—and we're growing the economy, too.
It's no secret that a working mom's day doesn't end when she leaves the office, and a shocking study revealed that most of working moms clock in about 98 hours a week between home and the office. Not only are we working more hours, but more of us are working, too. The New York Times reveals that 44 percent of moms have returned to the workforce full-time. As such, working moms contribute to growing the economy.
Working moms are more productive in the workplace.
Moms are masters at multi-tasking and it turns out, that serves us well in the workplace, too. The Washington Post recently reported on a study that found that working moms outperformed their childless peers throughout their careers.
While parenting small children takes its toll (hello, mom guilt and sleep regressions), when productivity was measured over the course of a woman's career, moms proved to be better performers all around. Meeting a deadline proves easy when you're used to wrangling toddlers into diapers, cleaning handprints off the wall and soothing a teething baby, all while making dinner.
Despite being more productive, working moms have to overcome a ton of challenges going back to work.
Heading to work as a mom brings challenges, no matter how old your children are. Many new moms who choose to breastfeed often encounter difficulties trying to breastfeed or pump while at work, often dealing with major mom guilt by being at their job and away from their baby.
Meanwhile, parents of older kids worry about their kids performing well in school, sports and making good friends. And don't even get us started on parenting teens! We can never completely set aside the notion of our children, but maybe that's what makes us so good at what we do.
Working moms raise more compassionate and successful kids.
The next time you wonder if being a working mom has any impact on your kids, remember this study from the Harvard Business School: it found that "daughters of working mothers are more likely to be employed, hold supervisory positions, and earn more money than the daughters of women who don’t work outside the home."
Additionally, daughters of working moms can go on to earn more than $5,000 more per year than their friends who come from homes with stay-at-home moms. Perhaps the strongest factor is that daughters of moms who work see first hand that women are just as capable of working as their male equals.
Working moms raise healthier kids.
Working Mother reports that children of working moms are less overweight, contradicting previous studies that stated otherwise. Not only does providing financially for the family provide the means for a healthy diet, but also the social and emotional resources to develop confidence and a strong sense of self-identity.
Additionally, higher family incomes (often a result of working moms!) demonstrated a lower risk for childhood obesity than lower to mid-income family units.
Working moms of today feel empowered by their own working moms from a generation ago.
One of our main goals as moms is to prepare our children to become successful adults, and we often have our own working mothers to thank. TIME reported that in a recent study, researchers found that kids of working moms saw them as role models, taught them how to be independent and to problem-solve on their own.
In our current generation, we have the added bonus of being a part of working mom Facebook groups and other social media avenues for connecting with other mamas in our shoes. If our moms raised us as intelligent hard-working women, imagine the possibilities for this generation of kids with working moms.
Moms who work are less depressed.
Some might think that moms who leave their kids all day to head to work would experience higher levels of depression than stay at home moms, but a Gallup poll back in 2012 actually says the opposite. The poll was for the purpose of measuring health and well-being, and it analyzed metrics such as feelings of happiness, anger and sadness in stay at home moms, working moms and women without children as well.
Of the polled population, Gallup found that only 17% of working moms reported diagnosis of depression compared to the 28% who claimed the same and were stay at home moms. The study suggested that despite being away from their kiddos all day, working has the opportunity to create plenty of positive emotions, and that's something we can definitely get on board with!
Working moms spend more quality time with their kids.
No one appreciates quality time more with their kids than working moms, and we all know it's all about quality over quantity. Moms who work tend to fully commit to their kids when they're not at work, because they know how precious that time is.
Working moms utilize every spare moment with their kids, as opposed to moms who spend every waking moment with them, but may be doing other tasks like housework, watching television and so on. Either way, our kids are just excited to spend time with us!
Are you a working mom? We’d love to hear why you think working mamas rock in the comments below!
––Karly Wood
Featured image: Brooke Lark via Unsplash
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