A career lasts a lifetime – babyhood doesn’t
Karren Brady, vice chairman of West
Ham United Football Club, confessed in an interview with Good Housekeeping
Magazine that she has only one regret. “I was in the office within three days
of my daughter’s birth”, she said. “I deeply regret it and wish someone had
told me a career lasts a lifetime.” Today she actively encourages her staff to
take a year’s maternity leave.
So, there you have it. Babies are
babies for only one, very short year. Your career will be waiting for you when
you go back to work. If a year sounds too long and you’re running your own
business, you can hire a manager to help you for a while, and work from home.
If a year’s maternity leave is unaffordable, is it possible for you to work
mornings only? Better still, wouldn’t it be great if the workplace provided
in-house baby-care facilities?
Making the
most of baby’s first year:
Learn to relax and take it easy
when baby cries because 99,99% of the time, it’s NOT a crisis.
Enjoy everything you do with your
baby – feeding, nursing, bathing, changing, rocking to sleep. These are not
CHORES. They’re special ‘love’ moments to be cherished and remembered.
Ask your mom for help and advice –
after all, she’s been through it all before, so why not learn from her mistakes
and experiences?
Keep a journal – you think you will
remember everything, but you won’t – baby’s first smile, first haircut, first
words (mama or dada?), first steps.
When all else fails – or on the
spur of the moment – turn up the music up and dance with your baby.
Let your instincts rule when it
comes to playing, tickling, singing and reading to your baby. You don’t need a
college degree to do this!
Keep telling your baby how much you
love him/her.
Give yourself a break to spend an
evening with the girls. You’ll come home loving your baby more than ever!
When you’re having a bad day,
remind yourself that it will pass. Remember that when your child is a teen,
s/he will disown you – for a few years, that is!
