YOU CAN'T PUT "MOM" on YOUR RESUME

I see this over and over again, all my girlfriends are in their mid thirties they all have kids and most of them have been married for enough years where their marriage is either on the rocks or they are the small percentage that are in martial bliss. They all took the decision with their spouse at some point in time to stop working and stay home with their kids.

Well now that the marriage is over that may not had been the smartest idea, because no matter how cute your kids are! How much you worked, fed, and changed their diapers. I hate to break it to you but no one in the working field cares. So please before you throw in that working towel! Please reconsider! I know it sounds like a dream to be taking care of little Ben's every need, but the fact remains that if you ever need a job you just cant put "Mom" on your resume!

If you do decide to stay home with your kids, then at least try and keep up with your contacts at your old job, take classes, maybe even take a part time job because it would be so much easier to come back from that, then totally relegating yourself to only being a mom " how ever noble that may be".

Another fact is if you are getting any kind of allowance from your spouse you better be donating at least a portion of it into a savings account in case your marriage fails, I know you are thinking it wont, but facts are facts and yes 50% of marriages still ends in a divorce. Your spouse might convince you that, that is not fair because he does not get to put a portion of his pay into a savings account but he does have the advantage that he in the course of those same years has an extensive work resume. While you have nothing to put on that resume but soccer appointments and 2-year-old birthday parties that you managed. So the fact remains that your spouse would have a much easier time getting a new job.

Being married does not mean that you now can just relax and be lazy about finances because you have someone supporting you. You still need to look out for yourself as well as your spouse. The glorious settlement you were promised when you first got married may not come true. Just know this! People change when they go through a divorce and they listen to other people, those other people are called divorce lawyers and they are vicious!

Be smart in a marriage, you would not ever sign a contract without knowing what the details entailed. So why would you be in a marriage and have no clue what rights you have! Protect yourself and your kids, read up on your state laws about divorce, settlements and custody! You might learn that something you thought was important wont even matter and something that you didn't think of is.

Going through a divorce is hard enough! Be prepared to take care of yourself! Just remember you can't put mom on your resume!