Where would we be without mothers? In my opinion, Motherhood is
very special profession. Motherhood also has very unique and
demanding characteristics that are frequently misunderstood. Let
me tell you why I believe that motherhood is an amazing and
special profession.
Motherhood is the most important profession in the world.
Mothers are entrusted, and are almost totally responsible for
the health, care, training, morals, security, emotional
strengths, attitudes, social understanding discipline, and
learning success of their children. Collectively, mothers
control the development and growth of almost all children in the
world, who eventually mature into adults. The relationships
children and even adults have with their mothers shape who they
become as adults. The results of the efforts of mothers are
universal, extremely powerful, everlasting, and extremely
important to every person on the globe. Unfortunately,
motherhood is not given the respect and honor it deserves, as
the world shaping profession it is.
Motherhood is a very difficult and diverse profession. Mothers
are required to possess the knowledge, practice the skills, and
perform the duties of so many different life functions that it
would be impossible to list them all. Here are but a few.
Mothers must successfully perform as nurses, cooks,
nutritionists, teachers, trainers, educators, coaches,
therapists, disciplinarians, financial advisors, protectors,
cleaning specialists, transportation specialists, sports
enthusiasts, clothing and appearance specialists, peacemakers,
mediators, and spiritual advisors. Wow!
Mothers are given little, if any, prior formal training. A vast
majority of the knowledge, skills, and experience of performing
all of the important motherhood life functions are learned ON
THE JOB. I know of no college or university that teaches or
trains mothers. They must learn motherhood on their own, and by
following their instincts. Other professions like attorneys,
medical doctors, and dentists, must attend anywhere from
six-to-ten years of additional education after high school to be
qualified to begin their profession. Yet, mothers are required
to be fully knowledgeable of all motherhood requirements and
operate at almost full speed from virtually the very beginning
of motherhood, with very little, if any, training.
Motherhood is a non-income producing profession. Even though
mothers perform the most important profession in the world, they
rarely, if ever, generate monetary income from their motherhood
efforts. Mothers are not paid to perform their multitude of very
important duties and activities. Mothers are rarely paid to
change diapers, prepare meals, or train their children. Mothers
are frequently supported by their husbands, who are expected to
generate enough income to pay for their needs. Unfortunately
today, there appears to be an increasing trend of expecting
mothers to continue performing their full time motherhood
professional duties and also work at an income-producing job to
generate money.
The time and energy demands on mothers diminish with time. As
the youngest child grows up, the time demands, effort demands,
mental involvement, and personal contact by mothers with their
children will shrink. Motherhood with young babies is almost a
24 hours, seven days a week profession. Think of the relief
mothers feel when their youngest baby finally sleeps through the
night for the first time, without awakening for feeding or to
have a diaper changed. The job requirements of motherhood are
greatly reduced, as their youngest child goes off to school.
Time and energy demands on mothers diminish even more as their
youngest child continues to grow and attend even more out of the
house activities. Eventually, mothers will be faced with an
empty nest as the purposes of their motherhood vocation depart.
Mothers feel frustrated in their quest for a new profession.
Mothers frequently feel stymied when they seek new careers. They
feel inadequate because they have been out of the work force for
so long, or because they feel they have less education than they
think is necessary, or because they are older than other
potential entry level workers, or because finding and applying
for jobs and can be a daunting and confusing process.
Unfortunately, the normal Human Resources culture of the
corporate world and the owners of small business don’t always
treat empty nest mothers as a valuable source of productive
workers.
Mothers bring exceptional skills and experience to the
workplace. Mothers are far more qualified and far more valuable
producers than they, or the business world realizes. The skills,
experience, knowledge, sense of responsibility, wisdom,
patience, leadership, organizational capabilities,
resourcefulness, human relationship capabilities, and other real
life skills that mothers developed over the years of motherhood
are extremely valuable to people who recognize their true worth.
If you are a mother at this stage in life…
You will want to fill the void with another supportive
profession. You will always be a mother to your children.
However, you will experience a void when your children begin to
leave home. You will eventually want (and most often need) to
fill this void with another career or work position. At some
point in time, you will want to convert your experience, your
energies, your need for achievement, your need for involvement,
your passions, and your knowledge that was fulfilled through
full-time motherhood into something else. You will want to
discover and operate in a new profession, or work position, or
career that allows you to fulfill your many passions and
desires. You want to do this without interfering with
mother-related responsibilities and on your own terms.
You will want to take control of your work selection process.
You will not want to rely on the unappreciative and unmotivated
corporate and business worlds to select the right professions
for you. When you take control over your work selection process,
you will be able to discover your true value and unleash your
energies towards a new career that will be an excellent fit for
you at this new point in life. When you chose the new career
that best suits your passions, priorities, experiences and
talents you will achieve exceptional successes. You will also
discover how much easier it will be to attract significant
monetary and personal rewards when you operate in the new career
that you love. It is never too late for you to capitalize on
what you have to offer and what you want to do, when you focus
your efforts towards the right work situation for you.
It’s time to consider yourself first for once. The key to you
being able to discover then attain the next career that best
suits you is to look within yourself first. You come with a
multitude of different experiences and priorities. Many times
you are faced with option overload when you try to pick the
right post full-time motherhood career. You have also focused so
much of your time, energy, and thinking on the growth and
improvement of your children (and spouse) that you have
forgotten to take care of yourself. You will want to stop, take
a deep breath, and seek what you want out of the rest of your
life.
Find the right person to assist you. How will you be able to
change directions and concentrate on yourself first, to discover
what personal motivations you have, after years of putting
others first? You will want to find the right person who will
focus only on you as a person and assist you to unravel the
mystery of who you are and who you want to become. You want
someone who is highly motivated to assist you, who is
trustworthy, who is objective, who is nonjudgmental, and has
done this before. You might consider using a friend, but
objectivity becomes an issue. You could consider using a
therapist, but you do not need to be fixed. Another alternative
would be to consider using a professional life coach to support
you in this process. We have found that mothers who use a life
coach transitioned into wonderful and enjoyable new lives,
without interfering with their motherhood.
Conclusion
Now you see why I believe that Motherhood is the most
intriguing, important, and under appreciated profession in the
world. Yet, most mothers don’t anticipate that motherhood also
has a very unique and misunderstood reduction in the time and
effort demands as their children grow up. As a mother, you will
want to recognize and plan for the need to re-direct your
wonderful talents and passions towards a new vocation as the
daily demands of motherhood wind down. Making the transition to
a new vocation can be daunting. The best course for you to take
control over this transition and select the right vocation for
you is to seek assistance from the right person, and not try to
do it alone.