Hi Jancee, tell us a bit about yourself - What do you do, how old are your children and what happens with your kids when you are at work?
I am a writer and my daughter is eight. I drop her off in the morning, write frantically for the six and a half hours that she is at school, and then close my computer and pick her up.
1. One word to describe how being a WoMomakes you feel?
LOVE THIS QUESTION AND I THOUGHT HARD FOR THE ANSWER: Fulfilled.
2. What’s the funniest experience you have had juggling kids and work?
I was doing a phone interview with Jennifer Hudson upstairs in our apartment. I told my husband to take our daughter Sylvie for just 45 minutes while I did the interview. Well, he became absorbed in a game of Social Chess on his phone, and our then-three year old wandered upstairs and kept interrupting me. "Poo," she said. "I have to poo." I tried to wave her away, threw my shoe downstairs to attract my husband's attention - nothing worked. "Poo. Poo. Poo. Poo. Poo." Finally I told the Oscar and Grammy-winning star to hold on for a moment, raced my child downstairs, wiped her, and raced back.
3. What is the one piece of advice you could offer another WoMo?
When you give yourself permission to go on a run or a walk or meet a friend for coffee, you are directly showing your children that moms deserve leisure time, too.
4. What’s the least amount of sleep you’ve gone to work on and how did you cope?
Two hours, and I drank a couple of dubious energy drinks that a friend had given me. I fell into a dead sleep on the subway home and woke up six stops later.
5. What have you learned about yourself as a WoMo?
I've learned to cut out the time-wasting. Working mothers can prioritize like no one else.
6. If you had a working mother’s anthem or mantra, what would it be?
No drama. I don't have the time or the energy for work drama, or for that matter, friend drama, in my life. I really try at this stage to find people and activities that fulfill me.
7. What is your guilty pleasure to combat WoMo guilt the best?
Sugar! Cake, cookies, ice cream, candy.
8. Would you rather be dealing with a tantrum or presenting in a board meeting?
Oh, dealing with a tantrum. I think they're sort of funny. Which, of course, used to enrage my child further.
9. If you asked your child / children what your job is, what would they say (exact quotation if possible)?
"She writes books, and also stuff for Vogue magazine."
10. What’s the one thing you wish you’d known before you became a WoMo?
How thoroughly it will occupy my thoughts and make it hard, if not impossible, to concentrate on work if my child is enmeshed in some sort of problem.
11. To date, what has been your best WoMo achievement?
I went in to give a talk about a children's book I wrote for my child's second grade class, and it was the perfect synthesis of work and motherhood. And the kids were so excited, and had such funny questions, and gave me good ideas for future stories.
12. What do you want to teach your kids about working mothers?
That work can be tiring, but also exciting and fun. That it's important to support each other, and working mothers help each other out in the most gratifying way.
Learn more about Jancee here! http://janceedunn.net/