Do Kids Hold You Back in Your Career?

I asked my LinkedIn network "Does Having Kids Hold You Back In Your Career? in this poll earlier this week. It got a much bigger and much more vulnerable response than I expected.

4,583 people voted.

And hundreds shared their perspectives in the comments.

Here are some of the perspectives that people added to the thread:

• This is a choice that women have to make and it’s not an easy one. However, having raised daughters, I always worked and had higher-level positions. I wanted to be a role model for my daughters to show that careers are important and that relying on oneself is crucial in the long run. With divorce rates high and sometimes health issues and early death of a spouse, to totally stay out of the workforce for an extended period of time may have adverse consequences for providing for children and oneself. Talking to many women who stayed out of the workforce found when they had to get back in years later was extremely difficult. In addition, once the children were grown they personally felt lost. Do what’s best and be happy with the decision you make. -Michelle DeStefano

• As a father of six, I can tell you from experience that after 23 years of raising children and building my career, there are both PROS and CONS. I would not trade this for anything in the world. That said, they do and will "Change" your path. In many ways, for the better, but they absolutely affect your potential in certain cases. The no's (my POV) likely come from parents of 2 or fewer, under 13, unengaged, or not living with children. Again, would I change anything? Nope! - Rigoberto Murillo

• I believe it really depends on how much support you have. It doesn’t have to; it can actually enrich your life. Brené Brown shares how disappointed some of her mentors/professors were when she got pregnant with her first child. They said something like: we were hoping for big things from you (as if she dashed their dreams and ruined her future) obviously that wasn’t the case. But it takes a village to raise a child and it all depends if we have that village. - Clara Wasserstein

• Need another option 'Did not have time to have children due to my career.' - Sophia Kostava

• I think the answer is in the replies of people who commented. Most of the ones I read take it for granted that it’s about the working mum, but the question was general for the ‘people’, not the working mum only. So I think the answer for me is yes, even if it shouldn’t be, especially for mothers. - Sabrina B.

Because of the response to the poll, I decided to host a live discussion/interactive podcast surrounding this same question. And the perspectives were more vulnerable, honest and insightful than I could have imagined. You can listen to the discussion by clicking here .

As always, thank you for reading and listening.

Lets grow together,

Shanee′

p.s. What question should I ask my network this week? Suggest a question below and if yours is chosen I will tag and give you credit in the post.