As much as I want to be a mother one day, it’s the time and money factor that really make me question it. In this world, it’s hard to imagine having children and having enough time for them.

I don’t know what the best solution is. Should we be working less hours every day but working more productively in them so that we can spend time with our families? Should we have more “work from home” days so family doesn’t suffer?

I don’t know what the answer is… all I know is posts like this make me worry about having children in the future.

I’ve recently read a good book related to this you might enjoy called “the Economics of Happiness” which looks into why since the 1950′s our wealth and material possessions have increased greatly, but our free time, work-life balance, and general ‘happiness’ levels have a dropped. There is definitely a need to step back and find out what really makes us happy. You can work yourself stupid in hopes of making a fortune…but why?

For people like Jack Welch, his happiness may come from working 16 hour days 7 days a week. Good for him. I don’t think that’s most of us though, definitely not me. Yes, you have to make choices, and there as consequences, sure. But I couldn’t disagree more with his statement that there is no such thing as work life balance. Work-life balance exists, but how for the balance leans to the left or right is up to the individual (http://slapfish.com/balance/balance0400.jpg)

Also, as a biz student I grew a healthy disrespect for the Welch type of ego driven CEO (I won’t go on a tangent as to why). For examples on true CEO leadership you should look to see what people like Ricardo Semler (http://www.amazon.ca/Maverick-Success-Behind-Unusual-Workplace/dp/0446670553/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247867339&sr=8-5) or Ray Anderson (Interface Flor) have to say.

At the same time I sort of hate it that having a commitment to your family is often interpreted as having a lack of commitment to your work. If you’re Jack Welch and you’re making millions of dollars a year and you’ve given up your home life, fine. But should we really set it up so that every working schmo is expected to do the same? At the end of the day your employer simply does not have the same commitment to you that your family does, if they have any. You can be laid off at any time. It’s really unfortunate when someone kills themselves and sacrifices family life only to be left in the dust.