7 reasons being a mom makes me an asset in the workplace

Keeping a proper work-life balance has become increasingly important for many women, as more and more studies have shown that working women who have children are less likely to be hired and have less earning potential overall than not only their male counterparts, but their childless female counterparts.

While there aren’t clear answers as to why this is, resume gaps and the perception that women with children are less available and dedicated to work may be contributing factors. It’s worth noting that men with children don’t face the same lack of job offers or reduced earning potential as women with children, and sometimes even see an increase in opportunities or wages.

I had my first baby six months ago, and I love her more than anything. But, contrary to popular belief, I actually think her birth has made me a better worker than before.

Here’s why:

Keeping a proper work-life balance has become increasingly important for many women, as more and more studies have shown that working women who have children are less likely to be hired and have less earning potential overall than not only their male counterparts, but their childless female counterparts.

While there aren't clear answers as to why this is, resume gaps and the perception that women with children are less available and dedicated to work may be contributing factors. It's worth noting that men with children don't face the same lack of job offers or reduced earning potential as women with children, and sometimes even see an increase in opportunities or wages.

I had my first baby six months ago, and I love her more than anything. But, contrary to popular belief, I actually think her birth has made me a better worker than before.

Here's why:

1. I've become a pro multi-tasker

I thought I was good at multi-tasking, and then I had a baby. Since my daughter was born, I've spent many hours bouncing my baby in one arm, putting dishes away with another, eating breakfast and writing an article all at the same time.

Clearly, I'm well versed in juggling multiple tasks and doing them all well. My baby is happy, my dishes are (almost) always done, I've managed to keep up a consistent article publishing schedule, and (most of the time) I'm well-fed, as is my family. Translated into the workplace, this means I can work on multiple projects at once, take phone calls and organize schedules and write at the same time. I could do it all while eating lunch and not even think about it.

This isn't always necessary at work, but especially with how short-staffed some workplaces have been recently, the ability to not only multitask but multi-task well can most definitely be an asset.

2. I'm a LOT better under pressure

There have been times when I had to change a diaper and clothe my daughter while she was wailing because she hates wearing clothes. Button diaper, pick up screaming baby, calm screaming baby, put down baby, clothe baby, calm baby again. I've also had to suck the boogers out of her nose with a nasal aspirator while she was screaming bloody murder because she likes it even less than wearing clothes, and had to give her medicine while she was kicking me, pushing the oral syringe with her hands, and turning her face in every direction trying to keep the liquid from getting in her mouth. Baby cries can fray some people's nerves, but mine are honestly made of steel now. This can be an important skill in a workplace with fast-paced deadlines or demanding customers, and because I'm a mom, I have it in spades.

3. I have more confidence

Having a baby is essentially someone handing you a tiny, helpless creature and trusting you to not only keep them alive, but care for them and guide them into kind, self-sufficient adults. It's terrifying to say the least, and can breed a lot of self-doubt, especially the scarier parts of parenting, like trimming their nails. But after I got the hang of it, I was not only better at it, but a lot more sure of myself. And this confidence has translated into other areas of my life. This is important when working in a professional setting because you usually do better at a task when you're confident at it than when you're not. Especially if you're working with customers, they will usually have more confidence in your work when they can see that you do.

4. My ability to prioritize is unmatched

At any given time, there is a lot to get done in my house. At any given time, I may need to feed the dog, feed the cat, feed the baby, feed myself, change the baby's diaper, send an invoice and do the dishes. The sheer amount of tasks that needed to be done at one time used to overwhelm me. But, over time, I developed a sort of intuitive list of what needed to be done first. In the work place, an ability to not only prioritize, but act on your list of priorities because if you get the things that need to be done first done after the things that could have waited, you could end up costing yourself and your company time and money.

5. I sweat the small stuff a lot less

I've been spit up on, pooped and peed on more times than I can count. My baby has torn up more pages of various books while I was reading than I can count. I've stayed up for two hours rocking my baby to sleep after she spontaneously decided she wanted to party at 2 a.m. Before, this stuff probably would've frustrated me or stressed me out, but now I literally laugh. Because in the grand scheme of things, a milk stain on my favorite shirt or a couple of ripped pages or a couple hours of missed sleep are not super important, and being a parent has made me realize that.

At work, and in life, it can be really easy to get caught up in the details and miss the big picture, like getting the job done or meeting the deadline, so the ability to go with the flow and adjust is a really important quality.

6. I can solve problems a lot more efficiently on a lot less sleep

Figuring out how to get a baby to stop crying is a lot like trying to solve a Rubik's Cube, at least in the beginning. But now, after several months of parenting, I can usually figure out why my daughter's crying within 60 seconds.

In the workplace, problems are bound to arise. It's important to be able to solve them in a calm, cool and collected manner, and no one can do that better than a seasoned parent, in my opinion.

Time is precious, but taking care of a baby can add a whole new meaning to that adage. If a baby had it their way, they would take up all of their parents' time. However, we all know that there are other things that need to be done in addition to the baby's care, including but not limited to, showering, eating, (light) cleaning, self-care, taking care of the animals and getting your work done. This is where time management comes in. Being able to organize your schedule is the only way to make sure you get everything done when it needs to be.

It goes without saying that this is one of the most important skills you can have in the workplace: knowing how much time you have and how to utilize it so everything gets done in a timely manner, and if anyone is good at this, it's parents.

I imagine that this list of strengths that can be applied to the workplace would be even longer for single moms or moms of multiple children. Just because a baby can't give a reference and there's no one writing you a paycheck doesn't mean that taking care of children isn't work, and more workplaces should realize this. In fact, mothering requires many skills that would be valuable to employers. If only we were allowed to list this experience and skills on our resumes.