I’ve always wondered how working moms in the TV news business balance the juggling act of career and motherhood. There are few positions in a newsroom where you can establish a set schedule for home life. Breaking news can happen ten minutes before a shifts ends and a reporter who thought she would be able to enjoy her son’s T-ball game that evening will, instead, be on the scene of a story for hours. Or she may have to scramble to make last-minute phone calls to arrange for the kids to be picked up from practice.

“It’s worth it, if you love what you do,” says KFOR anchor/reporter Meg Alexander. Meg does love her job and says being passionate about work can help in those moments when the best laid after-work plans are shattered. “You’re doing what you enjoy so you’re happier, and that makes you better with the kids,” says Meg.

She also says her job makes time spent with her three children that much more precious. But, she warns, you have to be careful. “Don’t put pressure on yourself to make that time picture-perfect or you will be disappointed and frustrated because that’s not reality.”

She also says working moms need to modify things a little on the homefront. “You can’t put as much importance on a spotless house or perfectly-ironed clothes because sometimes with a busy schedule at home and at the office, it’s just not going to get done. Accept it as a part of working motherhood.”

Meg says her mother taught her that organization was the key to being a working mom. “She taught me how to spend one morning cooking meals that would feed us for dinner all week.”

For husbands reading this, let’s remember how much effort our wives put into bringing home a paycheck and making the house a home for the rest of the family. It’s a tall order, and it’s a special lady who makes it happen.

Until next time...

Kevin Ogle, a native Oklahoman, is a news anchor on Oklahoma’s NewsChannel 4. He and his wife have two teenage daughters.