How Parenthood Helps in Attaining Professional Success

I am a decade-old single parent. To raise a child single-handedly while enduring the daily challenges of sleepless nights, making chores, running errands and meeting a variety of needs is definitely not a walk in the park. I had to find creative ways and strategies to make things easier and faster, not sacrificing quality and organization. Each day, at each time, I wear two hats or imaginatively embracing the dopple-ganger with open arms. Definitely there are far more heaps of hurdles along the way but without these muddy puddles, I would not have been successful professionally.

My role as a single parent helps me develop my well-being. My home is my primary battlefield. A place where I learned to strive for perfection, to set leadership by example, to be responsible, disciplined and innovative in finding solutions to meet the daily challenges of parenthood. Mediocrity was no longer part of my book, excellence definitely is.

Single parenthood according to Wikipedia, “is an uncoupled individual who shoulders most of the day-to-day responsibilities for raising a child or children. A mother is more often the primary caregiver in a single-parent family structure that has arisen due to death of the partner, intentional artificial insemination, divorce or unplanned pregnancy”. By this definition, this role can similarly be considered a professional career just like any other job. Parenting, coupled or single, is a transformational experience. It requires a number of skills from financial planning, time management, flexibility, resiliency among others.

According to an article written by Stephen F. Duncan, Professor at the School of Family Life, Brigham Young University, single parents have the ability to accept responsibilities, make their family their priority, foster open communication and harness optimism toward parenthood and life in general.

That these traits and skills are nurtured at home make for it a reason why parenthood is a factor to professional success. Because when you build a good life at home, it easily resonates when you step outside. Parenthood has never failed to push us toward the realization of our dreams both domestically and professionally. Being a working parent creates a purposely driven mindset that can echo down the halls of the corporate jungle, a mindset to be a catalyst for big things to come.