Overcoming Working Mom Guilt

Working mom guilt, yes there's such a thing and if you are a mother who has a career or work outside your home, you probably know a thing or two about this phenomenon. Working mom guilt is not to be confused with just plain good old mom guilt which is the kind the shame mothers feel for issues they face in the process of raising their children such as making a choice of not exclusively breastfeeding your baby to giving in and letting your child eat candy before dinner. Working mom guilt is another kettle of fish entirely, as it is exclusive to mothers who work to support the family income and in doing so are not spending time with their children as much as they would want to.

As a mother of two young children myself, I can tell you a thing or two about the pain I felt when I had to go back to work for the first time after having a baby and how jealous I would get every time my son would light up when my sister (his caregiver at the time) walked into the room. Working mom guilt is a recurring topic on several of the mommy boards I belong to and any thread on the topic garners hundreds of comments from mothers sharing how much they cry alongside their babies/preschoolers when they have to leave for work or how sad it makes them that their children have become more attached to their nannies, daddies, grandparents or even daycare teachers.

I don't think mothers would ever overcome this type of guilt but I've dug up a few facts  that ought to lift your spirits up whenever the working mom guilt starts to creep in:


You are doing it for the kids: According to research at Cornell and Denmark, children of women who worked between 10-19 hours over the first four years of their child's life will have a GPA that is 2.6% higher on average than children of stay at home moms.
Findings from a Harvard Business School study determined that sons who were raised by working mothers were more likely to help around the home and spend time looking after their own children.

You are doing it for your daughter(s): The same Harvard Business School study revealed that daughters of working mothers grow up to have more successful careers, have higher earning power and take on supervisory roles than their peers.

You are doing it for your mental health: A Gallup survey reported that stay at home moms report more sadness, anger, and depression than working mothers.
A study by the Journal of Family Psychology found that working moms are healthier and happier than mothers who stay at home when their children are babies and preschoolers.
Working moms tend to be

You are doing it for your family: The most obvious perk of being a working mom is the extra coins you bring to the family's finances. Your contribution goes into giving your children a better standard of living and would take some stress of your significant others wallet thereby leading to a healthier, happier and more comfortable family.

So the next time you start to feel guilty about going to work remember that you are doing it not just for yourself but for your child's future succeesses.