As a wife and working mother of three boys – 15, 11, and 5 – it’s difficult to meet all the needs of the people in my life. Because I sometimes travel for work, I’ve missed some pretty important events – a couple of birthdays, an anniversary, and some band recitals come to mind. During one trip to New Mexico, I remember receiving a call on my cell phone from the childrens’ school that my 11 year old had thrown up and was in the nurse’s office. Could I come pick him up? This wasn’t the first time I’d received a call like that when I was hundreds or thousands of miles away and it surely won’t be the last. “Ummmm….” is my standard response, quickly followed by “did you try his father?” I don’t even know why I’ve listed myself as a contact on the school’s paperwork at all sometimes.
While the travel frequently bothers my husband who is left at home to deal with all the day-to-day demands, it doesn’t seem to phase the boys anymore. It also, thank goodness, hasn’t stopped them from relying on me for anything. If I’m in town, they will come to me first for something (I’m the easy-going parent), if they need to go somewhere they ask me for the ride, if there’s a birthday party coming up they tell me so I’ll put it on the calendar. They hug me and kiss me and want to see me in the mornings before they go to school and at night if I’m home in time. No matter how much I’ve missed or how often I’ve been gone (and a couple of years I swear I was nearly invisible), they keep coming back for more.
Budding online entrepreneurs are encouraged to make their websites “sticky”. This means you’ve created something that makes your visitors want to return again and again. You tempt them with great content, emotion, new material, tips that solve problems, ideas they can’t find anywhere else. I don’t know that I’ll be able to do that on my blog, but as a mom, I must be damn sticky.
“The phrase “working mother” is redundant.”
— Jane Sellman