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Parenting older children: Is it harder to balance family and work when kids hit middle school?

Print | Comments () Posted by Kristi Palma July 3, 2012 07:38 AM

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Essdras M. Suarez/Globe staff

Carla Tardif with her children Jesse, 13, and Drew, 10.

According to today's Boston Globe story "Which is harder for working mothers? Being on the job when the kids are young or when they hit middle school years?" mothers who think the hard work of juggling child care and career when children are little will ease once their children get older may be surprised to learn their kids need them more than ever once they hit about age 10.

"There's friendship drama. Raunchy YouTube videos. Complicated homework. The travel soccer carpool," writes reporter Beth Teitell.

According to the story, kids crave more time with parents and desperately need them to help navigate the murky waters of pre-adolescence. This, of course, keeps the work/family balance discussion (the latest of which was triggered by Anne-Marie Slaughter when she told The Atlantic that women can't have it all) very much alive.

If you have tweens or teens, do you think it became harder to balance work and career once your kids hit age 10?

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Kristi Palma, Boston.com Moms producer, is the mom of a kindergartner and a preschooler. She is a writer who enjoys cooking her grandmother's Italian recipes (when her son isn't launching paper airplanes into them). Follow her on Twitter @kristipalma.

Jennifer Clark Estes is a teacher, writer, blogger, and the mother of four young children. In her free time, she blogs at A Mom's World, plays with the kids (or chauffeurs them around), and is desperately seeking a quiet spot so she can read a book. Follow her on Twitter @JenniferCEstes.