Farewell: Cutting Back on Parenting Writing to, Well, Parent

If you had told me back in 2003 as a first-time mom that newborn infants are actually pretty easy when compared to other stages of parenting, I would not have believed it.

In fact, I probably would have colorfully (albeit silently) cursed you.

But after our second child was born in 2006 and our third child arrived in April, this was a truth I quickly learned. Healthy newborns sleep about 20 hours out of every 24. Sure, they need to be fed eight times a day and their diapers changed about that many times too, and they frequently wake in the night. They require doctors appointments, pounds of gear and sometimes bodily recovery for mom in some very interesting places. But if no complications arise, newborns kind of tag along with your life, sleeping in their car seat carrier during meetings, conference calls and the answering of e-mails.

All that newborn sleepy time is fabulous if you are a blogger and a freelance parenting writer from home.

However, my baby Alice is now almost six months old and she is tired of being stashed on a blanket while her mother clicks away on a laptop. The ceiling fan is no longer her BFF — she is craving rides in park bucket swings, songs and books, walks and squirrel-chasing, and constant interaction. She takes her meals now at a high chair, rather than simply beneath my shirt at my computer desk, and requires a cook, maître d' and server. Alice now naps only three hours during the day, usually in the car when I'm carting her older siblings to and from school, sports and dance.

And thus, I am having to dial down my parenting writing in order to focus on the physicality of parenting. It is a bittersweet change, as these last four years without a young baby have seen me craft a flexible career that I dearly love. I recently came to the crossroads of whether I hire childcare or cut back, and for now, cutting back is the decision. (Lest you think I am taking a side in the oh-so-lame mommy wars, this is a decision made out of pure personal preference and knowledge of what works for our family rhythm.)

Thankfully, the professional world in the last 10 years has become so much more amenable to part-time positions, flexible hours and the hiring of persons who have careers which ebb and flow. And thus my family-focused decision to work less is not laced with the fear that I will never.ever.EVER be hired again. (A little anxiety perhaps, but not all out sweat-in-the-night fear — admittedly because I am just too exhausted.)

I know that you will continue to read the incredible writers here at Patch, and I hope that you stay in touch via my personal website A Parent in Silver Spring. I will be continuing my logging of millions of mistakes over there...well, at least when my editorial board of Charlie, Eve and our newest managing editor, Alice Elizabeth, allow.

Thank you so much for reading this column, and I wish you and your own children the very best.