Photo credit: https://www.welcomebabycare.com

“I really can’t stay because I have to pick up my kids”. ” Happy hour, what happy hour? I have to get to my kids!”

“I’m not getting promoted because I have kids!”

Sounds familiar? Do you remember having to use these lines as a mom yourself, or hearing them from other moms at work? Have you ever thought negatively of moms who may use the so-called “working mom card” as an excuse not to pull their weight at work?

Before you start throwing tomatoes at your computer screen, hear me out! I’m a mom to two juice-and-animal-crackers-addicted precious little people, and while I wouldn’t have it any other way (not even if Google came up with a lundry-folding app), I’m well aware my career changed after I had kids. And while we may be tempted to categorize everything (including French pasteurized cheeses and arabica coffee) into a good, bad or let-me-decide-later category (in which case you have a problem because that baby is coming out), becoming or being a working mom is a just that, a life change that changes everything. Period.

Does such a drastic change in the life of a woman as motherhood puts one’s life into tumble-dry cycle? Certainly. Can it be used to justify who we have become as working women? It depends. Obviously, you won’t find me in the neighborhood dive bar (which doesn’t exist in my neighborhood anyways) betting for drinks? Yet can playing the mom card be used to our advantage in a fair, non-sleazy, ethical way?

Wait for this… You should! Being a mom changes you, it adds layers to who you are, how you think and behave. And since you bring YOU to work, all of YOU (mostly after you’ve had your first cup of coffee, after which your mind begrudgingly agrees to reconcile with your body), wouldn’t suppressing such an important part of who we are end up being a disservice to ourselves, and others?

Motherhood and caregiving teach you some things even the most forward of professional environments could not impart upon you. So why the pressure to deny or delay it at work? Why not use the “working mom card” not as an excuse, but as an added layer to push ourselves further in our careers?

The Corporate Sis.