Careers for Parents

When my sons were in elementary school, Pleasant Ridge was where my work was, but I did not have to go to the studio unless we had a special team meeting or a client was visiting. I was grateful to work in sales then, as it allowed me the opportunity to be there for my sons and their school on a regular basis.

We would have loved to have sent them to private school, but we did not have the means to do so, and we made too much to qualify for scholarships or grants for tuition. It all worked out because my marketing career as a Senior Creative Representative (outside sales) gave me the flexibility to be deeply involved in their early education journey.

For example, I was able to do the following for the early childhood learning process within their educational environment as well as with the extracurricular learning and development activities outside of school, such as:

Morning greeter at the school every day of the school year for ten years
Art room assistant for ten years
Classroom helper for ten years
Classroom/grade parties and events for ten years
Cub Scout Den leader for eight years
Cub Scout Pack Communications Chair for four years
Catechist/faith formation teacher for nine years
Little League baseball coach for seven years

Some other careers for parents with young children that immediately come to mind which are conducive to being an involved parent could include the following but are not limited to:

Marketing/advertising sales
Any type of outside sales position
Teachers
Careers within the schools
Small business owner

According to Indeed, “As a parent, you might be interested in pursuing more flexible jobs that allow you to better balance your responsibilities, develop a healthy work-life balance or supplement your income with extra money. A flexible job could be one that allows you to work from home, on nights and weekends or part-time.

Customer service representative
Transcriptionist
Data entry clerk
Medical billing specialist
Graphic designer
Proofreader
Researcher
Childcare provider
Freelance writer
Social media manager
Virtual assistant
Website designer
Contract recruiter
IT analyst,”.

Why flex time is important for parents

Flex time is important for parents who have younger children because they need supervision and parents who are present in their lives. I certainly did not want to have children just to let someone else, some stranger, raise them. I wanted to be part of their lives, and I am forever proud of the sacrifices we made to make that happen for my sons. They definitely benefited!

I am also a product of a mom who was involved in my life and education. When I was a little girl, my mom worked in the schools as a para-educator, playground assistant, and lunchroom attendant. In the summertime, she babysat all the kids in the neighborhood- well, a lot of the kids, maybe not ALL of them.

She also taught catechism, led a Girl Scout troop, and was an involved classroom parent. She did not play sports, so my grandpa (Papa) was my mentor and trainer for baseball/softball. My mom and Papa were at all of my games cheering me on too!

When my sons were in sixth and second grade, my ex-husband and I started a landscaping company. I did all the marketing (of course), bookkeeping, and some sales, while my ex-husband handled sales, project management, and sometimes worked as a laborer.

Having a family business gave us a lot of flexibility to be present parents. It also allotted our sons opportunities to earn money at an early age. We had them help on landscape jobs, digging holes, planting, and shoveling snow in the winter.

In fact, they were so significant to the business that we named it after them! Our oldest son was the first name, and our younger son was the second, followed by “Landscape Group.”

The experts at Forbes share in an article, “What has changed in two decades? Childcare is more expensive than ever. We still face a persistent ‘broken rung’ in elevating women to top leadership positions. When women leave the workforce, we still fall into the trap of framing it as an expected outcome of motherhood. But we have something new: remote work.

So what can leaders do to unlock this opportunity? Here are three remote work norms that help parents (and everyone else) level up their productivity, energy, and creativity.

Be Flexible, Not Just Remote
Watch Out For Gender And Proximity Bias
Have Fewer, Better Meetings

When leaders listen to that message and put the architecture in place for exceptional remote work, everyone stands to benefit. Better remote work frees up the entire workforce — from recent grads to senior leaders — for more balance and independence. If that’s what it means for working parents to have it ‘all,’ they’re really not asking for very much,”.

What is the role of flexibility in parenting?

Being physically present and having flexibility in my career as a parent does nothing if I am not willing to practice healthy parenting styles. I never wanted to be that parent who picks their kid up from school, rushes them through homework and chores, races them off to extracurricular activities, feeding them junk fast food in the car, yelling at them at their activity, and then speeding home to force them off to bed with no quality time at all.

Instead, we had the following routine when they were younger:

We had a leisurely, healthy breakfast with PBS shows on for learning and entertainment, which we talked about together while snuggling on the couch before school
Went to school on time and early so we could do our greeting job together
Personally, picked them up from school, came home, emptied backpacks and lunch bags, and had a healthy snack while doing homework
Extracurricular activities were on Monday (catechism), Wednesday (sport), Friday night (Cub Scouts as a family), and Saturdays (sports)
On extracurricular days, I made sure that I had a healthy dinner done before picking them up from school so they could have a full belly for their activity
After dinner, they had simple chores to contribute to the maintenance of our home, like rinsing their dishes and putting them in the dishwasher, taking the trash out, dusting their rooms, and helping sort their dirty laundry and put away their clean clothes
At bedtime, they brushed their teeth, washed their face or took baths/showers, put on their jammies, and snuggled with Mom and Dad for reading time
When they were babies and little boys, I ended the day by singing them to sleep (such precious moments I will cherish forever!).
As they got older, after reading time, they would chat about their day in an effort to stay up later – little stinkers! I didn’t mind because we bonded and snuggled. I knew it would end someday (waah).
Turns out, this was instrumental in building trust that has created a safe space for them to share their feelings and their lives today as young adults.

In conclusion, flexible work helps parents stay present, support their children’s growth, and build meaningful careers while creating healthier, more connected family lives together.