I’m starting to reconsider our 2-year-old daughter’s daycare schedule. I’m beginning to feel like 8 hours a day 5 days a week is way too much for a 2-year-old. I come to this thought not as a work-at-home mom who is feeling guilty about sending her child away to let other people take care of her while I slave away (contentedly) in front of my computer without interruption.

I don’t think my slight change of heart over daycare came from this NPR poll:

Moms Say They’d Cut Pay for Time with Kids

Frankly, I’m not sure I’m ready to cut my pay to spend more time with my daughter.

I think my new view of daycare comes from bonding more with her and becoming more sensitive to her needs. Forty hours a week of daycare is just too exhausting for her even though she loves the interaction with other kids, something she gets much less frequently with a work-at-home mom who doesn’t have many girlfriends with kids her age.

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I’m in the age-old quandry many business owners face at some point: Should I let my business grow? Maybe that sounds like a strange question because perhaps this is a more “female business owner” question. Maybe I’m being sexist, but I think most men start businesses to make money so business growth is a given.

Most (many?) women start a business for different reasons such as having more flexibility to be with their kids (a misnomer, by the way); to make a difference in their life, their community, their world; to make enough money to pay the bills with some to spare. I haven’t met many women in my immediate sphere who have started a business to become a millionaire. They are driven by a myriad of other motivations.

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It is nighttime, but in Alaska, it is still light. I’m exhausted. Then suddenly, I remember that I forgot to post to this blog today. Where did the day go? And how did I run out of time?

If you are like me, working from home has its pros and cons. I still firmly believe that the positives greatly outweigh the negatives, however, if I look back at my day today, there were several times that working out of the home would have helped me get my work done.

By default, being in an office - especially with other people around - creates a different sense of urgency to your work, a need to adhere to the timelines of others, a strong sense of responsibility that others are depending on you and they are right there in the same office with you.
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