Carolyn Erickson

Well, actually that should be “It’s live!” The new July/August issue of TheWahmMagazine is up with my article, “The Eight to Three Empty Nest,” featured on the cover. (The article is about deciding whether to continue working from home once your kids are old enough to be in school all day.)

TheWahmMagazine is an entirely digital magazine, “dedicated to validating, empowering, encouraging, educating and supporting work-at-home parents.” (And it’s eco-friendly too.)

That’s a lot for one magazine to live up to, especially when the editor/publisher is a WAHM herself with a toddler at home and a husband campaigning for a state office. But then, who better to do it?

I for one am enthusiastic about TheWahmMagazine. Working from home is a growing trend, but seems to be strangely unaccounted for in mainstream news and media. They focus on the “Mommy Track” and the “On Ramp,” as if staying home is merely a pleasant detour, a scenic overlook on the career path. But that will change. 

In fact, it has already started changing. TV and print magazines are currently in love with “mommy bloggers.” Those are women with blogs about, well, everything — from living changerously to the not-so-empty nest to freedom of speech and campaign controversies. (And they don’t just write, either. BlogHer interviewed Barack Obama for a video post. It’s a whole multi-media world out there. I keep hearing about how newspapers are still trying to grasp “new media.” Hmm. Maybe they should hire some moms to help them out.)

And of course, there are work-at-home dads out there too, bucking the system by making a living between diaper-changes. The lifestyle might not be for everyone: it does take self-discipline, persistence, and an ability to see through walls (both so that you can see what the kids are doing in the next room and so that you don’t begin to believe you’re the last living adult on the planet). But working from home is more and more becoming a valid option for parents across the world.

Work-at-home parents are individualistic souls willingly beating a path where there isn’t one. They would do it with or without support from the mainstream media or corporatations. But a little support is always nice. We have days where we doubt our choices, our odds for success, our place in the professional realm. That’s why I like TheWahmMagazine. As it succeeds in its mission, we find it easier to succeed in ours.

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