I like to think of myself as a revolutionary. Now, don't laugh. I am kind of serious. When I was working full-time and only seeing my three kids (age three and under at the time) for a couple hectic hours weeknights and rushed/exhausted weekends, I knew that lifestyle just didn't make sense. I was pretty sure it didn't make sense for lots of other parents.

Besides the quality of life issues, it seems to me that the planet is better served by parents working at home in the hours that are convenient for them than it is for us to commute (stealing our hours, not to mention using resources), take up office space and then commute back home.

In fact, this was precisely what motivated and inspired me to launch Type-A five years ago (this is our anniversary month! w00t!). My mission was to create a place where any parent could write and earn revenue. My ultimate goal was to help parents, even in some small way, attain their goal of working at home if that was, in fact, their goal.

Trying to work at home (even some hours of the work week) was like pulling teeth. I am sure it still is! Getting flexible work hours was like pulling teeth. Shoot, getting my boss to let me leave work on time to get my children before their daycare closed was like... pulling... teeth.

This is not an acceptable situation. I truly believe the surge in popularity in parents blogging is a piece of this larger picture. We want a different lifestyle than we are being told is appropriate. We want to create our own opportunities, set our own priorities, and determine our own work schedules.

I truly hope that one day, when my children have their own children, they will laugh at the absurdity that people once had to choose between careers and family time. I hope they will be shocked to hear that it was difficult, if not impossible, for most parents to work at home.

I hope the groundwork we lay as parents today -- putting our feet down and saying we don't accept the status quo for our careers and professions -- will set the stage so our children never have to even consider another way of life and work.

Photo © Audrey Johnson