Mothers, Fathers and Kids! One Million Hug Challenge

Yes, one MILLION (channel your inner Austin Powers when you read this number) hugs is our goal for National Hug Your Kids Day on July 20, 2009.

We can do it – together. If 10 people hug their kids and tell 10 friends to hug their kids and tell 10 friends, it just takes 5 iterations for us to reach one MILLION. That’s so doable, it’s almost laughable.

But it starts with you hugging your kids.

And telling 10 friends.

Think we can reach this goal? If so, how long do you think it will take?

How can we speed it up?

Comment below with your thoughts, ideas and, well, comments!

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt: Travel vs. Have Another Baby?

‘Just saw this query from an author:  “Looking for women who have built careers or businesses that allow them to travel long-term — and have balanced that with family. Interested in sources who have taken their families with them while traveling, as well as chosen to limit family in the interest of travel. “

My thought: I guess it takes all kinds, but it never crossed my mind that some folks would rather travel than have another baby.  Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt can do both. People of regular means do it all the time, too. Check out www.hugyourkidstoday.com

Is travel that great? Will your slideshow of the Taj Mahal or the Acropolis keep you company when you are old?  What do you think? Comment away!

Fortune 500 CEOs Value Work-Life

I recently read in ‘Working Mother’ magazine:
 
H. Fisk Johnson, CEO S.C. Johnson & Son: “A company will only do well if it has the best and brightest talent. And work/life programs help us attract and retain great talent because these programs are valued. Particularly in soft economic times, these programs are even more valuable.”
 
James Cornelius, CEO Bristol-Myers Squibb: “Even during times when the external business environment is less stable, we have seen the benefit of our commitment to work/life programs. These programs help us attract and retain the talent we need to drive our business.”

So you knew in your head that work-life issues mattered to your business and personal bottom-line. Here are two big CEO’s to join our chorus.

Keep singing “Hug Your Kids Today” – and then get to work!

Forget “Work-Life Balance.” It’s the wrong goal.

If you are a mother or a father with children under age 19, and if you strive for success in your professional career AND success as a parent, I created this blog just for you.

If you’re in HR or management, and your company has working parents on your payroll and you want to understand and serve them better, stick around too.

I’m a working parent. I understand the day-to-day challenges of trying to be great at my job and great as a parent. Here’s what I’ve discovered: All this talk about “Work-Life Balance” is the wrong conversation. It’s the wrong goal. It’s like the proponents are trying their best to tell us how to go East, when we really want to be going North. The best, most complete, most accurate directions to go East still won’t get you North!

Likewise, when you stop and think about it, you don’t really want to balance these two essentials, because one is your livelihood, and one is your LIFE. If you lose your job, you can get another one and you’re back in the workforce. If you lose a child…Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you tear up, but you get my point. You could never replace that child, even if you had more or adopted.

I know. My son, Mark, died suddenly at age 8 1/2 in 1998. There will never be another kid like him in the history of time – and there will never be another kid like any of yours either.

So I say, forget “balance.” Rather, prioritize “family first, and work a close second.” After all, most of us have to work, and many of us LIKE to work. But we LOVE our family, and I hope to help you keep all this straight, be successful and enjoy the ride too.

Thoughts? Comments? Insight? Please comment.