Answer With Caution

If you are a stay at home/work at home mom like myself, you may find yourself in the precarious position of needing to take phone calls during the waking hours of your preschooler. This can be a dangerous and hostile environment to work in. Case in point, here are a few examples of things my child gets away with while I’m taking business calls and rendered somewhat helpless to her antics:

• Stripping all her clothes off and running around the house screaming
• Stripping all her clothes off and pulling every cushion off the furniture to jump on
• Stripping all her clothes off and flying from our ottoman onto said cushions
• Stripping all her clothes off (noticing a trend here) and peeing on the floor
• All of the above while chasing the cat and yelling “You’re a tiger”!!
• Bringing her potty chair into the living room and peeing then giving all her stuffed animals a turn on the potty… baptism style
• Throwing things off the balcony
• Digging dirt out of the tomato plants and using it as a sandbox
• Pulling mommy’s hair down and “playing” with it
• Having a roaring contest with her imaginary Tiger
• Asking for water
• Asking for cookies
• Asking for candy and screaming until she gets it

If you are a mom like me talking in your “professional voice” while internally screaming or just shaking your head, there’s hope! It’s called cartoons. Don’t worry, we are active parents who enjoy outings and activities with our youngster, but there is nothing like the salvation of cartoons mesmerizing your wild thing into silence. I’m sure I hear an “Amen” going up from the collective motherhood out there. What did we do without them?

In all seriousness, these are things I would rarely dream of admitting to my fellow business person, but in this day and age we are all tasked with making ends meet however possible. I am grateful for the possibility of such flexibility to stay home and still bring something in for the family. I’m sure I will cherish these memories of all the things my little “wild thing” got away with while mommy was talking business on her phone.