LCs with small children find they are in a unique bind, particularly when
they have put into practice the notion that family is first by attempting
to run a business out of a home with small children.

Having no children at home anymore, I am acutely aware how much time they
take when they DO come home (mine will be 25 years in 10 days:  I obviously
had him when I was 5 years old!  :-)).

My own recommendations to women who ask about going into a private practice
with small children (those not yet in school) is to wait. Your children
will be small and this needy only for these years. The neediness that comes
with adolescence is differnet and intense but a bit more manageable in ways
that 3 year olds are not and should not be expected to be.

I am convinced that one of the single most devastating problems in the US
today is the lack of time that parents give to themselvses and their
children to be togehter.

If you must have a practice with small children at home, disciplining
yourself to see clients only for certain hours of the day is essential.
Otherwise, burnout is likely to be endemic, as is an increase in risk of
loss of marriage and possibly loss of children (see Marsha Clark problems
as an example).

Our children are too precious to sacrifice on the altar of getting a
practice going.  And, if we cannot model appropriate, loving mothering with
time for children when they most need our presence (if not always our arms
around them), how can we possibly expect our clients to value their
children?

Enough of my soap boxing.  (I couldn't help myself.) And if I have offended
anyone, my apologies.

         %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
         %%  Kathleen G. Auerbach, PhD, IBCLC    %%
         %%        Lactation Services            %%
         %%        Homewood, Illinois            %%
         %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%