Working Mom Wednesday: Mommy's High Heel Shoes

I started a new position this week at work, so things are very busy. Exciting changes and opportunities, but leaving the "known" of a job I have loved for three years and moving into the "unknown" of this new venture is a little stressful. Lots of meetings, and then I got sick in the night Monday (probably the bug Kate had Sunday) and felt icky all day Tuesday. So, all that to say I'm going lazy on this week's Working Mom Wednesday and rerunning a post I wrote about a year ago.  Enjoy!

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Remember a couple years ago when every network had a show about powerful corporate women? There was "Lipstick Jungle," "Cashmere Mafia," and--the marker of any legitimate trend--an SNL spoof sketch called "Lady Business." Matt had a term for the leading characters of those shows: "Power Chicks."

Ever since then, "Power Chick" is Matt's term of endearment for my work persona. When I emerge from the bedroom in the morning dressed in a professional outfit, he says, "Look, Kate--Mommy's a Power Chick," and he encourages Kate that she can be anything she wants to be, including a "Power Chick like Mommy."

When, at two months postpartum, I started feeling really down and anxious about returning to work, I looked on Amazon for books about working motherhood. Amidst the titles for the working mothers themselves was a children's book called Mommy's High Heel Shoes. It's about a little girl playing in her mommy's closet after Mommy leaves for work, and thinking about all the different shoes Mommy wears for all the different things mommies do: going to work, making breakfast, working in the garden, walking the dog, going grocery shopping, going out with Daddy, etc.

Since discovering that book, Matt and I have referred to it often when discussing my working motherhood and our childcare arrangements. For my birthday, Matt even bought me a high heel shoe charm for my Pandora bracelet. I'm sure the charm is mainly intended for ladies with a shoe fetish, of which I am not one, but upon opening the box, I immediately knew the meaning of the gift from my wonderful, supportive husband.

As the author intended, my hope is that it will help Kate understand why Mommy goes off to work every day, and that "Power Chick" is just one of the hats (or shoes) that women can wear.

Judging from her playtime the next day, I think she gets it.