I’m excited to share this blog post with you for so many reasons. In February 2023, my 13 year old son interviewed me for a school project. What follows is the exact essay he wrote, with no edits made and I’m sharing this with his permission. While I’d love to say we spent hours chatting, the reality is he interviewed me for approximately three minutes. I think he’s subscribed to my newsletter, which may be where he’s filled in some of the gaps. What I find so interesting is his view on my role as a business owner and the life lessons he’s gleaned from listening to me talk about my work.  

This essay is a powerful reminder that our kids are always watching and listening, and when we pursue our passion (even if it means spending less time with our family) the benefits are immeasurable. As a mom, we can be so plagued by mom-guilt, when in reality, our work has such a positive impact on our kids’ lives. I hope you enjoy reading this, not just for the content, but for the reminder that going after your own dreams sets a powerful example for our kids. And when our kids see us happy, it has a profound ripple effect. This article called, “The End of Mom Guilt” explains this phenomenon in more detail. 

I hope this essay serves as a powerful tool to help you combat your own mom guilt.

More Than Just a Profession

By Landon Morahan

Corinne Morahan - my mother - is a very effective person. While she drives me places, makes me food and supplies me with the things I need, that’s not all she does. She does something interesting for her profession.

She worked in finance until early 2018. Then she became a professional organizer. “When your house is organized you feel calmer,” said Morahan when I sat down with her in her organized office a little while ago. Her motivation is to give people more joy in their life and less tasks to worry about. Corinne has her own business as an entrepreneur and she has already made over a million dollars. She says she has the perfect balance between work and life as she values spending time with her family and is also a very hard worker.

Morahan, 41, uses these four steps. First, the mindset. She says you have to be dedicated and calm in order to be successful. Second, declutter. She takes everything out of its place and gets rid of anything she doesn’t need. Then, Morahan puts everything back in a way that everything can be found when needed. Finally, she resets. This means maintaining the work she did. She dedicates a few hours each Sunday to make sure everything is in its right area.

Corinne emphasizes that “organization is more than just a profession” for her. Because of how organized she is, she lives a more peaceful life knowing where everything is. This also gives her extra time to do what she loves, such as spending time with her family. She just celebrated her five year anniversary of the business.

One thing about her business that shows something about society is that her business is all female. She is a self-made millionaire and all of her co-workers are women. This shows that women can do everything that men can and more. She has been featured in many articles already, such as the Boston Globe.

Corinne offers workshops and programs to help you get organized, and also to provide guidance to fellow women starting their own organizing business. Her business name is “Grid and Glam” because she loves bright colors but also to be precise. She has a small but diverse team based in New England though she has workers in far states.

Morahan is so inspiring to people all over the country. She shows that organizing can give you tranquility and peace and it isn’t just a chore. She has given herself peace of mind and a simple happy lifestyle.

I challenge you to have a conversation with your school-aged (or younger!) kids about your job. If you do, consider asking them these three questions.

Three Questions to Ask your Kids to Combat Working Mom Guilt:

1. What does Mom do for a job? 

2. Why do you think Mom has a job (aside from just ‘making money’)?

3. What does Mom like about her job?

What they say may surprise you, and may help replace your working mom guilt with joy that you’re setting a wonderful example for your kids, who will one day grow up to live out their own life’s passion.

Even though we’re working moms doesn’t mean we can’t spend quality time with our kids. And we all know that, quality is better than quantity. For some more in depth tips on how I carve out quality tine with my kids check out this blog post called “How to Spend Quality Time with Family this Spring.” In it, I share my strategy for finding ways to carve out time to spend uninterrupted time with my kids each day.

Bottom line: skip the mom guilt and instead channel that energy into spending quality time with your kids whenever you can. And make sure to take pride in the work that you do because you know that they are, too!