What is the SAHM Career Guidebook?

Hello wonderful ladies, and gentlemen.

I've created this guidebook as a place to store and share ideas and strategies for women (and men) who have spent years, or are spending years, as a SAHP and would like to maintain their careers as much as possible to prepare for the future.  Admittedly, this blog is geared towards Stay-at-Home-Moms because they are simply the most common type of SAHP these days, but Stay-at-Home-Dads, rest assured, these principals will apply equally to you - and we will regularly offer posts geared specifically towards Stay-at-Home-Dads who often have unique challenges to face.

I personally am a full-time working mom.  Growing up and into my teen years I was absolutely determined that I would be a SAHM just like my mother was, so much that I even wrote a college essay on why all moms should be stay-at-home-moms lol!  But I don't think any of us really know what choice we will make until we have children and discover what our personalities crave and what lessons we want our children to learn.

As such, I often contemplate what I would do to nurture my career were I a SAHM as I had planned.

• How would I stimulate my mind?  
• How would I prepare for the future?  
• How would I provide additional security by being prepared to work full-time at a moment's notice, if needed?  
• What would I do to maintain a resume that doesn't reveal a massive black hole for 10 years?

 I have hired, worked, with, and been a friend, daughter, and cousin to many who stayed at home with their children and wanted to re-enter the workforce - it is a daunting task!  And the problem is, people who discuss this subject either don't really care what happens to your career, or they tend to approach it from a very black-and-white and very unorganized perspective:

"Well, if you stay at home with your kids, you're just going to have to take a hit and start all over when they grow up."

 or

"As long as you have a degree you'll be fine."

 or

"The work you do at home is just as valuable to the workplace - put it on your resume!"

or

"The activities you engage in at home with your kids have no place being listed on your resume."

Uhhhhh...

These statements all have some truth to them, but none complete the picture: yes, you will take a hit, but there are things you can do to minimize, perhaps even eliminate it in some cases.  Yes, getting your degree is one of the best foundations to lay for yourself, but it cannot get you there on it's own, especially when you consider workplace biases against SAHM's and older women.  Yes, your work at home builds valuable skills but being a bookkeeper or scheduler at home is nothing like being a bookkeeper or scheduler in the workplace - however there are places you can include this on your resume, and there are activities you engage in as a SAHM that are very applicable.

Let's talk for a moment about what this blog is not.

  It is not a place to:

•  Make you feel bad about choosing to be a SAHM (you shouldn't!)
• Assume you are lazy and therefore need working moms to get you in line (I know you don't!)
• Advise you that you can have a great future career without doing anything career-related today (I'm sure you know that)
• Make you think this will be easy (ha! Like anything in your life is easy right now!)
• Make you feel like you have to be a working mom to have a great future career
• Talk about great ideas without any practical applications
• Brag about being better than you because I'm a working mom

I know the mommy wars are heated right now, but they don't actually exist.  I mean, when is the last time you've seen two moms face-off about whether it's better to work or stay home??  It's not a real thing, it exists in our minds; we're all in this together.  If you're reading this, you know that all types of moms are great, make fine choices based on their own family, and you can assume anything I write is delivered with equal respect for all.  Equally, comments must all remain respectful or they will be deleted.  We are here to share knowledge we've gained with each other, no one is interested in lecturing anyone else.

What I am going to do:

I'm going to give you day-to-day, week-to-week applicable skills, activities, and concepts that can greatly increase your chance of being able to more comfortably re-enter the workforce when you choose to.  There probably isn't anything earth-shattering here, so this probably isn't a great resource for quick-fixes, but there will be lots of reminders and new ideas based on what I've learned working with SAHM's.  We will cover topics for mothers currently trying to re-enter the workforce (who may or may not have adequately prepared), as well as those with young children looking for strategies to protect their working future. *If you have been through this recently and have some advice to share, please contact me about being a guest blogger.*

If you're wondering what's in this for me, I'm not interested in bragging about my amazing work life (we all know the sacrifices we working moms make are as big as yours, just different; the blessings are too, blah blah...).  For me, talking about this gives me this strange feeling that there would have been hope for my psuedo-self who traveled in an alternate dimension as a SAHM.  She deserved a great career too.

Now let's DO THIS!