A working mom's "rest"room

Contributed by Megan Reddick--Megan is mom of 10 month-old Cade and is expecting her second child in early February. A big concern for new moms is the work/family balance. Megan weighs in with her opinions on this issue.

I’ve been thinking, recently, about the pros and cons to being a working mother. There are the obvious pros: income, adult interaction, money, did I mention, cash? But I have recently realised a hidden pro, one much less talked about than the others. It is the toilet.

When I’m at work I have the luxury of going to the loo when I want. At home, it’s always a race to see how long I can hold it in, as the baby needs tending to, or dinner is at the critical stage of must-be-constantly-stirred. Also, there’s not the pressure of finishing up as quick as I can, before the baby is half-way up the stairs or knee-deep in newspaper. At work, there’s no baby who crawls in to “keep me company”. The toilet paper is never out and it’s often a quiet, zen-like space of porcelain and tile. However, the best thing of all about the workplace bathroom, is that it’s always clean! There are no moulding bath toys, nor hair clogged sinks; no soap scum countertops or dingy towels. Here at work, the bathrooms are cleaned every evening, and perhaps best of all, given the ratio of women to stalls, I get my own.

So, if you’re trying to make the difficult decision of whether to work or stay home with the kids, consider this one of the more weightier pros to the argument.