Ex | Today's young mother is a superwoman, juggling career and family
A ‘mother’ has eternally been a source of love, strength and inspiration to her child from the time he/she is born. It is truly said, God could not be everywhere and that is why he created mothers. Mother's Day is here once again , and it is time to celebrate. It is a day when children can show their appreciation towards mothers and mother figures worldwide. Nowadays we come across different days allocated to different members of the family but this day holds a special significance for children globally.
This day is also gaining prominence in the marketer’s calendar. Many people believe that Mother’s Day is now largely commercialized, with card companies, flower shops, jewelry stores, gift shops, restaurants, hotels, and department stores advertising promotions and special deals for this event and hence leaving no stone unturned to woo mothers.
Today young mothers who are multifaceted and multi dimensional are known to juggle their successful careers alongside their familial duties. May she be an entrepreneur, PR Consultant, a 
On the occasion of Mother’s Day, Adgully spoke to some gifted and talented women from the industry who are both amazing mothers and have simultaneously been great professionals too. We 
There is no doubt about the fact that whichever industry they may be in, their timings can be unpredictable and hence given the erratic timings how does a woman professional /mother in the media industry manage to do justice to both her workplace and her family . Mother and an entrepreneur Debadutta Upadhyaya says, “At the risk of sounding cliched, it is the value and not volume of time that she spends with her child that matters for a working mother who is constantly struggling for work life balance. In our case, we made sure that while the weekdays remained erratic, the weekends were completely dedicated to our son so much so that while he was okay with late nights from either of us on a weekday, he would resent any one of us attending to office calls on weekends. Unintentionally, it set a pattern within us to complete as much of the office responsibilities as we could during the weekdays so that nothing came between us and our child over the weekend. Plus, we did invest in a good nanny who could imbibe a set of values which we would have liked our son to grow up with in his formative years. There were set rules around travel, breakfast and dinner time to ensure that either one of the parents was always available for our son to lean on. While I don't think I am best fitted to sermonize on this subject, I think some of these efforts ensure that we get the best of both worlds.
Shwetha Guru opines, “Essentially there is no work-life balance for women working in the media industry. That is a truth a mother and professional has to recognize first and then work out a solution best suited for her family. If it is possible one could talk with their bosses/company and work out a solution of an alternative time besides 9-5. Get to work earlier and then aim to leave by 5, that way you can beat traffic both ways and get some extra time with children/family.”
Shwetha believes that in this decade of an extremely connected world, it’s still possible to work remotely, unless you have client meetings. Mothers should take advantage of this whenever possible. “In my workplace, we are given the option of working from home twice a quarter. This again goes a long way in helping a woman balance her life. My husband and I have divided responsibilities of housework and child care equally. He is extremely supportive. We have divided our chores and child care related work. So it works seamlessly for us. For e.g. I am in charge of my son in the mornings- from getting him ready for school to his breakfast and dropping him to school. When he returns from school, his dad takes over,” she added.
When asked about the same, Ranjita Sehgal opined, “Well, it is difficult no doubt but a lot depends on the kind of partner you have. If you don't have a very supportive spouse it takes a toll on the woman. You can’t do justice to either of the role. I try my level best to spend as much time as possible with my kids. I make sure that I spend quality time with them once I’m back home. Both me and my husband do make sure that we go for holidays atleast twice a year. So when we try and give so much time to our children I am glad that even our children understand us. Actually, the fact 
According to Vishakha Singh , “It is important to have an understanding of our own expectations. Balancing act requires clarity in priorities. It is a must to have a clear picture of priority at any point of time to help take decisions. Time management enhances efficiency and respecting one's own time helps. Many at times, you have to let things go if the time is not in your control. For example, waiting for a meeting need not be endless, you may run out of time which could be the family time. You need to take a call at that moment and stick to it. So, again a choice of priority-based decision making at that particular moment, it is a continuous balancing of life.”
Balancing a career and motherhood is no easy task and requires a lot of dedication, patience , and perseverance on the part of woman . Sharing her view on this, Shwetha says, “It is a job for a super woman (and she does not exist) and I would think working women lie when they say that they are managing it pretty well. In my personal experience after 2 hours of driving and stuck in maddening traffic the last thing on your mind is patience and dedication. There a lot of credit would go to your family to be more supportive and understanding. Most of the time one is consumed by guilt that you are not doing enough for your child and family, or that you should not lose your cool with your child or take out your anger on the poor angel.”
“But instead of feeling guilty you should educate your family on what you yourself are going through emotionally. We work for different reasons and should not condemn ourselves or let society tell us otherwise. Children of working women are as well-adjusted or dysfunctional as that of stay at home moms. So my view is that instead of running around like a headless chicken trying to balance career and motherhood, try and tackle each problem on a day-to-day basis and very importantly seek help if you need it. I have been both a stay-at-home mom and now working so in order to keep your sanity, take all the help you can and try to fit into an ideal model,” Shwetha further added .
Agreeing with this fact Debadutta went on to say, “It does and that's the fun of motherhood. It puts forth challenges hitherto unknown to you and demands that you come out with flying colours. In fact, some of the attributes that you have put forth, as far as I am concerned, got chiseled out learning the ropes of motherhood and helped a lot on the professional front too.”
Sharing her views on this Ranjita said, “I guess motherhood teaches you all of these-dedication, patience, and perseverance. We women are multi-taskers and we become better and better with time. It is the mother who has to keep a check on all the daily activities whether it is the kids classes, homework, meals etc. In the midst of all the hectic schedule I ensure that I get ‘my time’ too. Be it catching up with my friends or doing my Yoga in the morning-it helps me maintain my rhythm. I am glad that even my kids understand that fact. They know when I am doing my Yoga and they will not disturb me.”
“The career progression for most women slows down because of motherhood. No matter how much we talk about equality the fact remains that the house and child remains the primary responsibility of the woman. I accepted this while my child was young but now that she is growing up and needs less attention, I am back to work with a vengeance. It's about prioritizing - different things take priority at different times. Our lives are the consequence of the choices we make. I chose motherhood and the joys that come with it. A slower career growth is the price I chose to pay for it. I have no complaints,” added Rashmi.
Nisha and Vishakha, also agreed to the fact and stated that Motherhood is a way of life. Both gave their inputs and said “It doesn't matter whether you are a working mother or a home maker it requires all that you have illustrated. Balancing act is essentially how well you manage your time and find satisfaction in your everyday routine. Lack of satisfaction can drive you crazy and that is not true only for working mothers. Even non-working mothers wear different hats in a day and they also balance time. I think, happiness lies in efficient time management, in understanding and having clarity on how much one can deliver on all sides keeping limitations in mind, in being aware of self-needs/care etc,”
Actually, every moment is the best moment for a mother and her child but after listening to the different challenges that career women face and eliciting their views on the same lets also learn of some of the best moments the ladies have had with their kids. It goes without saying that mother goes that extra mile to do the laundry, cook and take care of her little one during their illness or even supervise the homework and school projects.
In this regard Debadutta proudly says, “Every moment spent with her child is precious to a mother . My best moments were when I used to hear encouraging remarks from my son's teachers around his creative skills, from friends around his independent streak and from relatives around his pleasant demeanour. You knew that you have done your job well, if not perfectly, when the fundamentals of growing up a kid were in place and you didn't have to lose sleep over complaints or remarks around an ill-mannered kid, which, according to me, is one of the earliest signs of a neglected childhood. However, one of the incidents which I remember fondly is around our son, all of four, waking up on weekends and teaming up with the maids to lay out a good breakfast table for lazy parents habituated to late weekend mornings. That was one of the proudest moment for me as a mother, for having inculcated a caring spirit within him. Not to mention, the pleasure and fun of indulging in weekend breakfasts chaperoned by a 4 your old.”
Shwetha said, “I decided early on that when I would have a child till he attained school going age , I would be a stay-at-home mom and that according to me that was the best decision ever. My advice to every working woman is that do that if that is possible, as my firm belief is that childhood only comes once but you can always build your career at any age !!! Yes you do get hired if you are smart , no matter what age and today companies are mother-friendly.”
“There are several such moments but one stands vivid in memory. My 6 year old daughter once said that she wants to grow up and start her own business and become exactly like me. While she misses me when I am away, she somewhere also admires what I am doing. It was a touching moment and one I will never forget.” said Rashmi.
Ranjita, said, “I guess everyday and every moment I spend with them is special as I look forward to being with them after a hectic day's work.”
Vishakha, believes that parenting cannot be termed as doing justice . Sharing her philosophical views she said, “Parenting is a life-long journey, you attain many milestones and skip some. There is nothing absolutely right or absolutely wrong in a journey. Only the emotional strength of a parent or a child can decide how well the journey has been.”
Nisha on the other hand in a very casual tone said, “I think our best moments are when we are chilling doing absolutely nothing. That's when we really bond and have a great time.”
Thus going by the different viewpoints of the various high profiled career women and caring mothers we can conclude that various factors contribute to ideal parenting. It mostly involves prioritizing their duties when it comes to giving their best towards their career and family. Sharing duties and responsibilities with their spouses and arranging for help also is another major decision that couples need to consider when starting a family and this in turn will help the young mother to do justice to the dual role that she portrays. But all said and done a young mother today is most willing to make sacrifices and goes that extra mile to give her best shot for the welfare of both her career and family.
Share
Facebook
YouTube
Tweet
Twitter
LinkedIn