The Working Mommy: What to do with separation anxiety?

This week I’m in New York City, where I use to work in PR, for the Romance Writers of America National Conference. I love being back in the Big Apple, but this does create some challenges at home for my husband. Since my almost one-year-old has started saying “Mommy,” or as she says it, “Mamamama,” it has been hard to leave her. Her normally cheerful demeanor becomes fussy and irritable. And let’s not even go into Oscar, the dog’s behavior. I’ve come to accept that if I’m not in the room, he won’t eat.

So what is a Mommy to do? Many of us still work, and I consider myself very lucky to work from the comforts of my home, with my daughter and Oscar. Now, I’m not pretending to be any expert on the topic, but here is my plan. Let’s call this an experiment and I’ll let you know if it works. Here are my steps to helping child separation anxiety for the traveling mommy.

1. Make sure that your child is with someone that they know.

2. Take time to call and talk to your child. My daughter is about to turn one and it made my day today when I called and she laughed and babbled back at me!

3. Bring your child a souvenir. I got my daughter and adorable bear from FAO Swartz.

4. As a writer, I still have work when I’m at a convention. I have columns, this blog, etc. Take advantage of what free time you might get and work ahead. This way you can afford to take a day or two off when you get home for a play day. Honestly, I could use a play day after this conference!

So, what do you think? Have you followed any of these ideas? Did they work? Share your suggestions in a comment and I’ll be sure to let you know how this little experiment of mine goes.

Happy writing, working or whatever you do as a working mom :-)

Announcements:

I have launched my official writing website. You can visit it at www.NatalieCMarkey.com Thanks to my fabulous brother for doing such a great job. Now I'm sure I'll have some new ideas after this conference :-)

My non-fiction, ‘Caring for Your Special Needs Dog,’ is out. Vets will always be your first resource in pet care, but as owners, we have a lot of power in giving our dog the best possible life. It is currently selling for $2.99 with a percentage going to The Texas A&M Foundation to the benefit of the Neurology Section, Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinarian Medicine.

I’m participating, as an author in The 400 Hundred Hours to Four Hundred Days blog tour. The purpose of this is to celebrate the upcoming release of L Carroll’s second book, ‘Four Hundred Days.’ A component of this tour is a social media contest. If you are interested in winning a free book read the rules below.

The goal behind this contest is to spread the word about Four Hundred Days as far as possible to as many people as possible.

Four Hundred Days is the second book in the Lor Mandela series by L Carroll. It’s a captivating trilogy.

Win Nice Girls Does Noir by Julia Crane

To Enter:

· Tweet “Join us on the 400 Hour to @FourHundredDays blog tour (participants add your link to this contest here)

· Leave a comment with the links.

Extra entries

· Facebook about the contest. (+1 entry)

· Change your Facebook Image to the 400 Hours to Four Hundred Days blog tour button for the duration of this tour. (+3 entries)

· Change your Twitter avatar to the 400 Hours to Four Hundred Days blog tour button for the duration of this tour. (+3 entries)

· Blog about this tour. (+5 entries)

· Grab the 400 hours to Four Hundred Days button and place it your blogs sidebar. (+3 entries)

· Youtube about the 400 hours to Four Hundred Days tour. (+10 entries)

As I mentioned, I'm out of town and I'm having some internet issues. You can find the 400 Hours to Four Hundred Days blog tour button at Woven Strands

Contest Ends at 11:59 July 15^th 2011