Colonel Candid

  Motherhood in National Security and Defense by Candice E. Frost How to maintain your sanity as a professional, spouse, and mother during a highly tumultuous period in the nation's history. Perspectives given on motherhood during children's infancy, preschool, elementary school, middle school and high school. Wonderful women in national security and defense, welcome to mothering in chaos…feels like episode 5,000 Motherhood is a high cost/ high reward activity I received, “What to Expect when you’re expecting” by three people. I then asked, where’s the next edition, “When to Expect for the rest of their lives”? First thing you can check out is Love Rutledge’s “FedUpward” podcast, especially episode 40, and her facebook page FedUpward parents I also appreciated her appro contextualize this time frame as “Wakadoodle” when it comes to finding childcare. During the months of March and April mother’s work hours fell 4-5 times as much as fathers. Women scaled back 5% o...

When you’re beginning work, Colonel Candid will provide you with some great advice given to me by a dear friend. When I started off, a mentor told me, “you can have it all, you just can’t have it all, all the time.” What I mean by that folks is that you’re going to be a part of a juggling act. There are many things that you juggle in life. Starting your first job you have to figure out your priorities and what you can handle. Most people at some point add a spouse and then add a child and/or children. At this point the advice really comes into play because you’ve got it all and your juggling like mad. Life becomes blissfully exhausting. There are times when your spouse needs much of your focus, say an illness in the family, and you’ll feel that impact at work. Understand that most people have gone through this and it’s important to have friends to share this with. Other times your children require your focus, this is so true when they are little, and your spouse and work feel t...

Another piece of advice saved, just for you, from a lifetime of lessons learned…your actions speak louder than your words. For over a decade, I’ve had the opportunity to mother two amazing children. During those years, I’ve noticed two sets of eyes watching everything I do. Talk about pressure folks…they keep you accountable and help you prioritize quickly to what’s most important for you. This is coming from someone completely dedicated to both my family and my work. In order to ensure my own sanity was maintained during several high stress jobs I had to set boundaries. Because, as I already know that you’re being the best person you can be, it’s hard to say no to anyone or any opportunity. Your children will want you to play, the spouse or significant other will want your full attention, and that email in-box just won’t stop filling up. Then there are all the extras you’re asked to do, like attend work related after hour functions, donate time with the children’s school and the...