Now a days women have become more career focused, especially with women from cities and metros. But a certain event in woman’s life changes every thing, the birth of a baby. With the arrival of baby, they have to spend more time with the baby, as a responsible mother.

Being a mother means an end to the careers?

After the baby is born, most of them wish to stay at home, while some others who are particular in going back to work go for a part time job or freelance work. Does being a mother means an end to the careers, even in the case of those who are extremely career centric? Or are there ways to manage the kid and concentrate on one’s career prospects?

What working mothers say?

Majority of the mothers agree that arrival of a baby is followed by a sea change in their lives. So in most of the cases career is not an immediate priority for mothers. There are many instances where mothers opt to leave their high profile jobs and become stay at home mothers. There are a few who choose to go back to work due to various reasons.

According to Shreya Rao, product manager at Levis India, she wanted to join work as did not want to be neglected in her career. She was pretty comfortable with looking after her child for one year. But after that she wanted to continue with her work. At the beginning she felt comfortable with the idea, but soon she felt that she was not doing justice to her child and towards her work. So she decided to take a break till her child started to go to pre-school. Shreya then joined her work after a long period of time.

Raising a child a duty of woman?

In India raising the child is considered as a duty of woman and the advice that working mothers get is often to leave their job for the time being or permanently, irrespective of the profile and salary. Whether all the women face the dilemma of continuing their work or becoming a stay at home mother is a matter of concern.

Mangai Varadrajan, project manager at a software company says that she returned to work after six months past her giving birth to her child. According to her the support from her family helped her to get back to work so quickly. She considers it as an important factor that helps women to get back to work so that they feel good in their life. Mrs. Mangai added that she does not regret going back to work and that is matter of choice. She says that it all depends on the likes of the mother, whether to work or stay at home.

In contradiction to this Padma Srinivas, HR consultant, who is now a freelancer, decided to take a break from work to look after her baby. This consciously decided and now she strikes a balance with her life and work by taking up fewer projects.

How can a mother get back to work?

There are many options through which women can get back to work. One important option is the family support, which ensures that the child is taken care of by a family member.  There are other options like appointing a care taker or by making the child spend time at a day care center.

Ask yourselves before you make a decision

For any mother who wishes to rejoin the work, there are few questions that need to be answered.

The mother should look into the number of working hours required each day. Working for long will make the mother exhausted and irritable. But a child won’t be able to understand your state of mind and will want to be with you and spend time with you. So you have to make sure that you spend time with the child effectively irrespective of the working hours.

The next important question is regarding the flexibility that you have in your work. You have to understand whether you boss or colleagues will be able to understand your situation when your child is taken ill.

The mother has to decide about an alternate way when the regular back up system fails. You should think about issues like the regular care taker having an emergency and whether you will be able to manage both the requirements of the child and that of work such as back logs and meeting dead lines.

Are you happy with the decision?

Another important question that you have to ask yourselves is whether you will be happy with the decision. There are chances that a mother might feel guilty for leaving the child with a care taker. You should have a clear idea of what you are doing, because you need to be with the child at time when he or she wants you the most.

What experts have to say?

Career Counselor has come up with a good suggestion that women should select a work place that is woman friendly, which consider you as a professional while understanding your status as a mother. She adds that even if you would like to take a break from work, you should be updated on the events that happen in the industry so that you won’t feel that you are left behind in the work place.

So if you are sure that you have gathered all that is necessary to take care of the baby, then nothing is going to stop you from rejoining your work. Janet, opines that you should not neglect your child at the cost of your work. According to experts mother should take less responsibilities at work with reduced working hours even if it means a reduced pay.

If you feel that you deserve high profile job, you have to make sure that you have made all the necessary arrangements for taking care of the baby and most importantly you should be guilt free. So you should make a decision after much of thinking about the baby and about you.