A Mother’s Perspective on Working From Home

There are quite a few issues as regards to a baby, where there are always sleepless nights. Leaving my son in the care of strangers, especially when he was too young to make a fuss when things went wrong, was an area of grave concern for me that I tried hard to stay away from. Therefore, you are aware that maternity leave is insufficient unless you live in a fantastic country like Estonia, Hungary, Japan, or Norway. If you don’t have a strong support network, daycare will be your only option if you have to leave your newborn (well, your 5-month-old kid) with someone else. Unless, like me, you work remotely.

I had decided on the kind of mother I wanted to be even before I knew I was pregnant. I knew I wanted to be with him at least until he was two years old so that he could actually communicate if something was wrong.

I knew I wanted to be with him, spend time with him, and teach him to walk, talk, sing, and dance. I just didn’t want to be left behind. A stranger showing me a video of his first steps was the last thing I wanted. But if I had to work in an office from 9 to 5, how was I going to manage all of this? Did I really have that much fun with my child? No, I’m grateful.

Although we all worked from home, I was technically employed by an agency when I discovered I was pregnant. But the company decided it was time to have an office just a few months after my son was born, so they set me a deadline: two weeks to find a daycare and start working 9 to 5. Even though I detested the thought, they had no other option, and losing your work isn’t the ideal option after having a baby.

Even though it offered a lot of advantages in the sense of having a supporting network that provided a stay-at-home environment for my son and allowed me to work without having to put him in daycare, it was still very sad and depressing to leave him every day. I felt I was failing at my job, failing at spending time with my child, I was missing out on too much, I was constantly crying, and I couldn’t pump in the toilet anymore. Other than being unproductive, I just was not being a good mom. We were negotiating my exit from the company a few weeks later. I had previously determined that the only way I could take care of my maternity needs the way I wanted to was to work remotely.

Employers are increasingly employing employee monitoring software such as Controlio to keep tabs on their workers’ location and working hours as more businesses start to permit remote work. I have been able to teach my child respect and responsibility by working remotely. He is aware that his mother is constantly at home, but he also understands how crucial it is that I work. It wasn’t always simple; in my first year of working remotely as a mother, I was concentrating on him 90% of the time and ended up working at night due to the fact that I hardly accomplished anything during the day, which was killing me. It made my life—and ours—much easier to teach him and explain what I was doing. He began going to daycare by the time he was two, but only for four hours each day, so that we could still spend time together. If I hadn’t been working from home, that wouldn’t have been feasible.

Now that my child is four, I am positive that I made the proper choice. I can now appreciate every day of being a mother as much as I would like to thanks to remote employment. I will admit that it has been difficult to maintain concentration when a toddler is running around or shouting things like “mum can you,” “mum I want,” or “mum look,” but it is possible if you want to.