The Day Mommy Became “Wahm-my”

I have been working from home for quite a while now, ever since my son was one-year-old and my daughter was three-years-old.  Home hasn’t always been the best place for me to get work done, but once I decided to take my business seriously, things have really improved.   My husband was always supported me in my home business efforts.  He’s been though everything from Avon to Tupperware with me, and hasn’t complained at all.  I’m grateful for that.

This “wahm thing” I kept reading about in magazines and online wasn’t really something I liked.  Yes, I do work from home, but I never wanted to be classified as a “wahm”.   I’ve never seen women who work outside the home classified as “wothm’s” (work-outside-the-home-moms), so why should I have to be labeled that way.   I wasn’t too happy with the acronym, until of course it hit home with me.   I had something happen to me that actually made me re-think the “wahm” classification.

One day, my three-year-old son was playing on the floor with his teddy bear and my daughter had started working on the computer.  I have my own computer in the same room so it was a wonderful situation.  All the kids with me, and I could get my work done and most of all, they were both quiet.  What a dream come true!

I was happily working when my son got bored with his stuffed animal.  He started whining a bit and wanted me to hold him.  I tried to give him another little toy to play with. I only needed about ten more minutes to finish the work I had been doing.   After I heard my son whining again, I decided that the work had to wait.  I didn’t want my son missing out on some quick “mommy time”, so I saved the computer file I had been working on and pushed my keyboard aside.

I started to get up from my chair when my daughter turned to me and said, “Mommy, maybe Jeremy wants to play with me and you can still work.  We can play with his blocks.”  I was so happy to hear this.  I walked over to get the blocks so the kids could start playing and glanced over to the computer my daughter had been using.  I noticed a stack of papers, along with envelopes and pens all over the desk.  I asked my daughter what she had been working on and she said, “I’m working on my business like you Mommy.  I have to write to people to buy my coloring book pages!”

I chuckled to myself.   My daughter was in the first stage of becoming a home business owner.  I felt a bit proud that a five-year-old could even visualize being in business, but there it was, for all the world to see.  That was the day I really felt that my role as “Mommy” has merged with my role as a “Wahm-my”.

So now, yes, I would describe myself as a work-at-home-mom, but I also describe myself as an entrepreneur, a business owner and a wife and mother.  Each one is true and I’m proud of all of them.