The Mommy Track

After 22 months of fretting over how to balance motherhood with my career, I decided this week to put in my request to work a reduced schedule beginning August 1st. It is clearly not the solution to the work-life balance dilemma, but it is at least a start. For those of you who have listened to my struggle over the past years, you understand this is a big decision. I have spent the past 7 years busting my ass at the firm. In the law firm world, ass busting means working 70-80 hours a week on average, working most weekends and pulling an all-nighter every month or so to accommodate a client's demands or close a deal. This also means maintaining an intimate relationship with your blackberry and cancelling most of the pre-planned vacations and weekend trips. In my life before David, this schedule never really phased me. I got frustrated at times when I had to cancel plans, but Matt and I were use to it and I am actually one of the few attorneys that enjoys the work I do. I have done a pretty good job at maintaining my pre-David schedule after returning from maternity leave, but I have done so at the expense of not making it home in time to put David to bed and having weeks where I only saw him a few minutes each morning. I know so many women are able to make this sacrifice for their careers, but it is just not working from me personally (at least not for the time being).

So, beginning next month, I am going to try and work a much more reasonable schedule and try to leave the office by 4:30 every day. I am not sure how this is going to work with deals and clients, but I am going to give it a shot and so far the firm has been more than supportive. David is beginning his new school next month, so my plan is to be able to pick him up each day. He does not adjust to change very well (or at all, really), so I think having me there more is important. This is also an age, where, in my opinion, having involved parents really can make a difference and is very important (although this is true of any age I guess).

To most people, this probably seems like an insignificant change. I am basically trying to get to a position where I work a normal 40-hour work week. Nothing revolutionary there, right? For all practical purposes, going flex time has been synonymous with ending your career ambitions, and any related partnership prospects, in the big law firm world. The flex-schedule (aka mommy track) has not really worked for many people and especially not for corporate attorneys, where the schedule is much more unpredictable and the deadlines tend to be more time sensitive. It is the equivalent of career suicide. But despite all evidence to the contrary, I am optimistically believing that I can make it work for me. We shall see if that turns out to be the case...