Dreading the end of maternity leave? Then don't go back to work
In the days and weeks leading up to maternity leave, it all seems so simple. Gradually you count down the weeks, and your colleagues become as excited as you are about the impending arrival, even if they do eye you as ever more of a curiosity, an exhibit to be fussed over and shown off to visitors. "Here's Chloe, she's due in less than a month!"
Still, you know they mean well, and there is the knowledge that this is just one of those rites of passage. Chloe will go and have her baby, Chloe and Baby will come into the office to say hello, the former harassed but victorious and the latter full of infant charm, and then a few weeks later Chloe will be back, and everything will return to normal.
So much for the theory
That's how it's supposed to work, right? Reality has little regard for how things are supposed to work. Everyone tells you that having a baby changes everything, but you still can't really grasp what that statement means till you've experienced it. Suddenly that trip to show baby off to colleagues seems like a jarring clash of two different worlds. Sure, that's where you used to work, but that was before.... Before you became Mommy.
Suppose you don't want to go back to being "pre-baby Chloe." And you want to just carry on being Mommy day in day out, at least until Baby is no longer a baby but a small person heading off to school. Or maybe even for longer. "Reality," you might think, gets in the way of that. But this is the 21st century. There are plenty of ways for stay at home Moms to earn a living, that can be fitted flexibly around your main job of being Mommy.
Flexible working
According to research carried out in 2016, there were 1.7 million Canadians in paid employment who work from home. Today, that figure is most likely more than two million.
However, immediately after becoming a new Mom is likely not the best time to broach the topic with your employer. With the best will in the world, you are hardly likely to be achieving the same level of productivity working from home while looking after a baby as you did in the office.
An alternative is to see if you can return at reduced hours, along with a degree of remote working. This allows you to still spend most of your time being Mommy, while retaining links with the outside world.
Got a financial background? Consider trading.
We all have different skills and knowledge, but if you have been working in the financial sector, you might think any freelance, or gig type work is only going to bring in a fraction of what you were earning before. Not necessarily. More people are trading Forex privately than ever, and if you already have a background in finance and are able to interpret a Forex market heatmap and understand the basic indicators, you are off to a head start.
Even if you have never traded Forex in your life, this is a perfect opportunity to learn how. The great thing about it is that this is an opportunity to make significant profits, and all you need is a laptop, and internet connection and an informed trading strategy.
The other thing that makes trading particularly appealing to stay at home moms is that you only really need to put in a couple of hours a day, particularly once you have crafted your strategy. The latest automated platforms and trading robots will follow your strategy to the letter, essentially making money for you while you are busy with Baby.
Weigh up the true costs
Still think you will be earning more if you return to the office? Well maybe you will, but are you really considering the true of going to work every day, as well as the revenue? Here are some examples of expenses that need to be subtracted from your working salary:
- Nursery / day care
- Commuting - public transport or gas plus other car expenses and wear and tear
- Work clothes and dry cleaning
- Lunches and coffees
- Other incidental expenses
- Other home expenses, for example house cleaning
When you take all these into account, you might suddenly realize that going back to work is not quite the financial no-brainer you initially thought it was. Now look again at that home trading option. How much could you make per month? Most likely it would not be much at first, but mighty oaks from little acorns grow, and if you can make a success of it, you could easily end up with the best of both worlds, getting to spend your days at home as a full time Mommy and generating as much or even more money as you did at work.
