Ad hoc MOM is for women who think their options suck. And since it has become increasingly clear that a) achieving a healthy work/life balance is about as easy as splitting the atom and b) after a few years on the career path the mommy track can be about as stimulating as watching grass grow – what’s a new mom to do? Don’t start dialing social services just yet sister! We are beyond grateful to have amazing, beautiful children who rock our worlds and make us grin from ear to ear. We enjoy frolics in the park, trips to the zoo, and live for our Thursday playgroup – but we are also creative, imaginative, hardworking women who are accustomed to earning our own Benjamin’s. It’s the same decision women have been tearing their hair out over for years. Work full time and miss out on essential milestones? First steps, first smiles, first curse words? Or permanently swap impractical handbags and shoes for skip hops and clogs and worry that if after five wonderful years of music together and mommy and me yoga you’ll never be gainfully employed again?
Ad hoc MOM believes there is a better way. We have found that part-time work (whether an actual part-time job, or freelancing -- whatever floats your boat) has enabled us to be the kind of mothers we want to be (involved, but also sane! A huge bonus!) and has kept us grounded in the careers we had before we reproduced. We soon discovered we were not alone in our pursuits – you couldn’t throw a pacifier in our neighborhood without hitting a mother who was also successfully managing a part-time career as graphic designer, real estate agent, book editor, etc, etc. It was FOR THIS PURPOSE * that adhocmom.com was created. Ad hoc MOMs are everywhere! And when you’re cobbling together raising a child, working part-time – quite possibly funky hours, stressing over deadlines, and still managing to make it through the day without a trip to the ER you need and deserve your own little pocket of support.
Trying to solve the stay at home/back to work issue is kind of like trying to remove a tiny strawberry seed stuck between your two front teeth; no matter how you position your fingers you can’t get it out and you look like a complete asshole the whole time you try. Ad hoc MOM doesn’t pretend to have all the answers, and we realize the part-time work/part time mom situation isn’t perfect (exhaustion, lack of part-time positions, unorthodox hours, unusual daycare scenarios, and oh yeah, livable wages and benefits are one obvious concern, and we mentioned exhaustion right?), but it’s the best we’ve come up with so far – and when we spend a sunny afternoon running around the playground with the giggling wee ones, or closing a deal after months of hard work, we have to say, it feels pretty damn good.
* Just fyi, in case you didn’t know, FOR THIS PURPOSE is the official definition of AD HOC.