June's Mom of the Month
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Name: Janine Dabney-Battle
Occupation: Licensed Mortgage Broker, Addison Mortgage Group
Children: Dominique, 11; Tatyana, 10; Yasmin 7; Cheyenne-2
With four children and a full-time job, how do you manage it all?
The key to keeping it all together is flexibility and getting the kids involved in helping with family life. I really have three jobs at work-I provide full customer service for my clients. I'm a licensed mortgage broker, a licensed real estate agent and a sales rep with ICR Credit Services, a company that repairs credit. It is really a 24-hour-a-day job. In order to manage all the different aspects of my job and still spend time with my family, I take calls from attorneys with referrals, real estate agents and clients after I've left the office. Some days I'm fielding calls until 11 o'clock at night. I keep my cell phone with me on the playing field in the evenings and make a decision whether or not to answer or let the call go to voicemail. All together, I work about 70 hours a week.
What do you do for childcare?
When the baby was 6 days old I started taking her to work with me. I kept her with me until she was 6 months old. I would nurse her in my office. Now that she is older she goes to day care. For after school, either my husband or I pick up the kids at 2:10 every day. Usually we check in with each other about an hour before and decide which one of us is going to get them. Most evenings we have an early dinner and get ready for the sports activity of the evening. My kids do baseball, basketball and football. It just depends on the season. We are on the field every night of the week.
With all you have on your plate, why is community involvement so important to you?
This is the community that my children are going to grow up in! What could be more important than that? I'm on the board of directors of our local sports league. I'm also on the board of the Delray Phoenix, an African-American investment group that is participating in the redevelopment of the downtown area. I sit on the Board of Adjustment for the city of Delray Beach, an elected position. Next school year, I'll be President of the PTA board at my son's middle school.
When do you make time for yourself?
I really don't. It's all about the kids. I wake up at 5 a.m. and start packing lunches. Then I get the kids up and take the kids to school. It takes us about 45 minutes to get the kids to school. We call it the "Battle bus."
And what about household chores?
I do the laundry every night and every morning. It's constant -- I don't have the time to wait for weekends. The children also help with the chores. They know to come and pick up their laundry and put it away. Even the two year old! Everyone has his or her chores. I go to the grocery store once a week and intermittently during the week. We all try to be flexible.
What's your best advice for other working moms trying to balance it all?
Delegate all normal household and school chores to the kids. Teach them responsibility. In our home, "there's a place for everything, and everything in its place!" Everyone knows what they have to do and the kids help each other. If the seven-year-old needs help with her homework, she'll go to my eleven year old.
• Submit a nomination for Executive Mom of the Month
• May's Mom of the Month: Jessica Schwartz
• April's Mom of the Month: Laura Wallen
• March's Mom of the Month: Jacqueline Goetter
• February's Mom of the Month: Lynne Bruce
• December's Mom of the Month: Brenda Kouwenhoven
• October's Mom of the Month: Jayne Gershkowitz
• September's Mom of the Month: Ann Higgins
• August's Mom of the Month: Peggy Garcia
• July's Mom of the Month: Maria Vidal
• June's Mom of the Month: Patricia Campbell