The many ways motherhood prepares you for PR

While I am sure that many of my parenting skills help me at work (and vice versa), here are five of the most significant:

Juggling many tasks

One of the first things any new mom learns is how to do multiple things at the same time. Feeding a baby while brushing your teeth, sorting the laundry, and checking email—no problem. Now that my daughter is older, juggling often involves keeping her entertained while cooking dinner and making sure her soccer uniform is ready for that evening’s game (and checking email of course).

In PR, we often have the same need to balance various tasks while doing them all well. Our clients have different needs and priorities, and it is essential that we move seamlessly from pitching the media about one client to monitoring social media for another, while responding to urgent emails for a third.

Reacting quickly in a crisis

As a parent, I need to respond quickly to the crisis du jour, either real or imagined. That means finding the right solution for the problem—from healing a scrape with a Band-Aid and a kiss, or hiding invisible monster traps at night to help my daughter fall asleep.