M & M's - This Mom's Morale and Motivation

I haven’t wanted nor, dare I say, needed caffeine or candy for the past week since I returned to work after vacation. Then it was a short work week and now that everything is back to normal, I find myself raiding the vending machine for M&M's. We call them morale and motivation at my job. It is my “fix” to maintain liveliness after being at home with the kids for my daytime “work shift” and then go to my job at night. There has to be additional motivators for a working mom besides caffeine and M&M's.

When or why did mothers have to start working and how do we manage these ungodly hours?

From what I can tell, women started working during WWI and WWII when the men were away at war. Fortunately, the 1920s brought women more rights including being considered a ‘person.’ Before then, women were not included in the term person. And I certainly appreciate the Women’s Rights Movement and of course the Roaring '20s, but I am perplexed at this development.

How did my M&M rant turn into a history lesson? I am not sure. I had Googled women’s history of employment and was given a spew of questionable titles for results.

Google search results:

• Working mom guilt
• Working mother kills family dinner
• When did you go back to work after having a baby?

Ewww. This is absurd. I know negative titles are more likely to get attention and grab a reader to boost marketing, but no matter what path we choose as women, it is certainly more acceptable in my mind to praise our choices and support each other as mothers and women. 

Maternity leave around the world does vary and the U.S. is listed lower on the scale . Good news is we do have support for each other before, during and after pregnancies other than having M&M’s at our fingertips.

There are ranges of websites for moms with e-mail and chat communication. A lot of moms even end up meeting each other after years of interactions. Locally, Lower Southampton Township has had a great walking program at . The and surrounding libraries have reading series for free both day and night. And I have met some great friends through that resource. Also, this is a wonderful time of year to go to the outdoor parks. If you work during the day and want to go to a park at night, movies are offered at Northampton township park and recently, GALS provided one at the . Moms can plan to meet up at these locations to spend time together.

No matter what your work hours are and no matter how busy your days are, we can encourage each other with or without M&M's. It is impressive how much women give for their families and history shows a series of women who lay the tracks for us to keep advancing forward. I can applaud all the great women before me and strive to keep working on making it better.

Do me a favor, forget the kids for a minute.  As a mom in our community, let's reach out to each other one at a time. Give a friend a compliment today for something they do well. That can last longer than any M&M in the world. Even the pretzel kind.

What do you suggest? Tell us in the comments below.