Kelsea Ballerini performs at the Country Music Association Awards in Nashville on Nov. 19, 2025.
More mothers should have more options for rasing children and working.

I picked up my youngest son and his two friends from middle school and "puzzle club" recently, where a slew of sixth graders had been learning to solve the Rubik's Cube. (Adorable, right?) With my last of four kids now in middle school or beyond, my season of raising "littles" has concluded.

As I chuckled at my son and his friends, I thought about how I jumped through so many hoops and skirted around perceptions of modern motherhood so I could live the life I envisioned and built my work around it. This meant being home with my kids when they were little and eventually, taking advantage of the privilege to work remotely, something not all women have.

Now that my kids are all getting older, I am glad I chose to work from home and raise them. It's a privilege, and I wish all mothers had this luxury afforded to them.

Being a mom can mean raising kids and working

Part of what sent me down this train of thought was the Nov. 19 Country Music Association Awards, where Kelsea Ballerini gave a stunning performance of her new hit song, "I Sit In Parks." I was surprised to hear the lyrics, which describe the sorrow a woman feels after choosing a career over settling down and having babies − at least for now.

"Did I miss it? By now, is it a lucid dream? Is it my fault for chasing things a body clock doesn't wait for?" the song says.

Underneath her angst is a dilemma many women who want to be moms face: Should I give up my career to stay home and raise my kids?

But there is a middle ground. Remote work or becoming an entrepreneur can often satisfy both the desire to work and the desire to raise kids at home.

Parenting requires sacrifice, grit. Remote work offers the flexibility I need.

Choosing a career that embraces remote work is not a privilege afforded to everyone; I recognize that. But data suggests that flexible work opportunities have increased at least fivefold, over 20 years.

One of the primary benefits of the COVID-19 pandemic was that it revealed just how many employers can offer remote work and how much people thrive working remotely. I'm disappointed to see how many companies want to revert to traditional, in-office work, despite the success of more flexible options. This hurts parents, especially mothers.

Choosing to work remotely or own a business, to have flexibility raising kids, is one of the best choices a mother can make, but it does require sacrifice, grit and superb juggling skills. It's not uncommon for most of my days to require multiple pickups and drop-offs between school and home, sandwiched between work calls, messages with my employer, working, then finishing up work or preparing for the next day while cooking dinner, helping a child with homework and doing a load of laundry in the evening.

It's a lot, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Want to raise kids and have a career? Choose flexible work.

I would not trade an in-office corporate job, even if I made more money and had a higher status with an employer. In exchange for that, I would miss running my son to the dentist or the doctor and sneaking a little treat on the way home or back to school. I'd miss seeing my daughter perform a quick choir concert or comforting her while she's sick at home watching Netflix. I wouldn't get to be the person my kids call for a ride, money, a forgotten item or, of course, a random but delicious Chick-fil-A nugget meal.

What am I doing if not being my kids' mother? Is there some other, higher pressing calling? There will always be work – there will not always be time with my kids.

The choice is clear. We need babies in society, as the declining fertility rate suggests, and someone has to raise them: Do you want it to be you, or someone else? If the answer is "me," then go all in and go hard and raise your babies the best way you can. If a flexible job can make that happen, find one and do that to the best of your ability.

I'll have the rest of my life to just work, but I only have a few more years left to hear the chatter in the car from my son and his friends about the Rubik's Cube club.

Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with USA TODAY. She lives in Texas with her four kids. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Track, and get it delivered to your inbox.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: I have the privilege to work from home. More moms deserve it. | Opinion

Reporting by Nicole Russell, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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