On-Ramping

A recent article in local magazine discussed the "on-ramping" principle. On-ramping is defined as "a path into the work force for someone who has taken time out and is seeking to get back in." For women who have been out of the work force more than 10 years it is difficult to return due to the lack of "marketable" skills or loss of skills that were once useful to the working world. However, after much thought I have concluded that the stay-home mother has a bag full of marketable skills - skills that are useful in any field. These skills include:



patience - wash the clothes, prepare the dinner, mow the lawn, clean the windows, paint a room, clean out a closet, paint a deck - all very feasible projects for a SH mom to undertake, but projects that invariably may be left hanging or suspended all because, "I want some juice please" or "I'm hungry." It takes patience to realize everything will take longer when you have little ones around and some things may never get completed, but that's okay!

flexibility - I'm not talking about gymnastic flexibility, although you may feel like you need to be gymnast sometimes, but the ability to "go with the flow." We all know what it requires to get a preschooler anywhere - they have their own agenda, their own ideas (NO, I doed it!), and their own opinion! Flexibility goes hand-in-hand with patience, because sometimes it is easier to abandon the ship than to fight the war. All the home chores can wait till another day, but priceless moments with little ones don't always remain.

negotiation - this is the ability to redirect the most determined firecracker from one task to another or to remove them from the pool because their skin has aged a mere 70 years based on the appearance of their wrinkly fingers. It's the sweet talking ability to convince them that lollipops are not a breakfast food and tank tops should not be worn when it is 30 degrees outside.

delegation - when the going gets tough and the troops have waged an all out war against each other, it's time to pull out the weapons of delegation.
Child Number 1, "You go collect the garbage and put it out by the street."
Child Number 2, "You go unload the dishwasher and reload it with the dirty dishes."
Child Number 3, "You go get the clothes out of the dryer, fold them, and put them away."
Child Number 4, "You go get the dirty clothes, sort them, and put them to wash."
"And when you get done with all that come back because I have more where that came from!" Oh the peacefulness of kiddos at work, it does the job everytime!

multitask master - the ability to talk on the phone, cook breakfast, give directions to a child (in sign language no doubt because remember you are on the phone), feed the dog, and enjoy your morning cup of hot java. The ability to make a loop through the house, cleaning up along the way, sending an email, reading a book to your child, and returning to the origianl chore that sent you on the loop in the first place .

I dare to ask what employee would not find these marketable, useful skills? Mix these with the experience of age and I think any SHM can be a valuable, competent, contributing member of any work force.