Article Credit: Amanda Patterson Crowe, for NextGen MilSpouse
Last year, NextGen MilSpouse talked us through the Risk of Choosing to Stay at Home and encouraged military spouses to think about the following:
“We give so much of ourselves to others. We must learn how to take time to grow ourselves and our dreams as well. As beautiful as the choice to stay home is, it comes at a price that we cannot afford to choose to ignore.”
This post is not intended to be a commentary on whether or not you choose to stay home with your children; each family makes a decision about what is right for them. The reality, however, for many of us who find ourselves home with our children —whether by choice or necessity— is that we have every intention of returning to the workforce at some point.
It is easy to say we’ll take a few months or years to stay at home and then return, but as any military spouse with a gap in his or her resume (what military spouse resume doesn’t have gaps?!?) can tell you, the actual return is often much more difficult than anticipated.
Here are 6 ideas for current stay-at-home parents who are planning to pursue a career outside the home in the next 5 years.
Contribute to the Ongoing Dialogue
A blog may seem overwhelming at first, but it doesn’t have to be. There are a ton of online resources that can help you get started and there are a fair number of military spouse bloggers willing to lend you their knowledge as well. If the idea of creating new content constantly is intimidating, share articles from your industry and provide commentary of your own on the topic to start discussions. If you find you like blogging and want to do it more consistently, be sure to check out MSB New Media for opportunities to share your content.
