The awesomeness of working mums

Having a working mum is awesome. I know it, most of you know it, and Jacinda Ardern's kid is going to know it.

Ms Ardern has received a bit of flack about her decision to go back to work six weeks after the birth of her baby.

But the truth is that whatever a mum decides - if they're lucky enough to have a choice - to stay home or go back, no decision will feel perfect all the time.

For me, sometimes the office can feel like a magical paid holiday, away from the domestic battleground of a home covered in dried dropped peas and a threenager who doesn't understand the power of saying thank you.

Other days, when I'm seven-and-a-half hours from hometime and find a jammy smear on the back of my shirt or a Star Wars figure in my handbag, being away from my kid puts a dull ache in my heart that won't quit all day.

But for a kid, having a working mum is awesome.

Academia knows it. A 2015 study conducted by the Harvard Business School found that the sons of working mothers are more likely to contribute to the household, and spend more time looking after their own kids, while the daughters are more likely to be ambitious, to go for higher education, to hold more responsibility in their roles, and to earn higher incomes than those whose mothers stayed home.

My mum worked in some capacity from the time I was six years old right up until her retirement.

Working gave her some bad-ass 80s shoulder pads, a pair of leather office trousers and a lifetime's dependence on Revlon Sun Shimmer. And that's not to mention the independence, confidence and killer kitten heels.

For me, it also came with some sweet perks.

In 1990, my mum took a job as a receptionist at a company that distributed Apple computers.

I would scuffle in each day after school, fire up the Macintosh Classic and connect to eWorld - one of Apple's first forays into online communities and email. From behind my mum's desk, I was hanging out with strangers in chat rooms before most of the world had even heard of the internet.

For my brother, the perks included an incredible summer spent sledgehammering excess computer stock, a role that every person in the world agrees is the dream job.

But even without these specific benefits, visiting your mum at work has always been cool.

Being cooed over by the office friends. Adults who are interested in how things are at school. All the lovely stationery. Photocopying your face. The plushness of the carpets. The clickiness of the keyboards.

Not to mention the utter adolescent joy of spinning on an office swivel chair, calculating the exact force and velocity need to swing around and around and around - until your mum sends you home.

Kid, you're in for a treat - just imagine the swinginess of the Beehive swivel chairs. Visiting your mum's office is going to be a delight.

Now I work full time, and I both love my job and miss the hell out of my boy.

Like any mum, working or not, some days Ms Ardern is going to feel she's nailing it, some days she's going to feel like she's screwing it all up.

But on returning to work, I have no doubt she's made the right decision for her and her family, and that makes for one lucky kid.

Newshub.