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" My husband is going to take on a new job that will enable me to stay home with our 4-year-old. I&amp;#039;m so anxious for this time with my son, but I work for a great boss who relies on me -- for everything. Our company was recently bought out by another company, and my boss will now be the chief operating officer and wants me to be her &amp;quot;number two.&amp;quot; Money-wise, this would be fantastic, but I still want to be with my son. I know my boss will have a panic attack when I tell her. How can I break the news? And what&amp;#039;s a decent amount of notice to give? -A.T., 25, Louisville, KY Here&amp;#039;s a truism that will help ease your anxiety: In the workplace, no one is irreplaceable. No one. Yes, it may be inconvenient and take some time to replace us, but we are all dispensable. As you&amp;#039;ve obviously intuited, you are indispensable to your son. What&amp;#039;s more, you&amp;#039;ll never have his boyhood back again, whereas there will always be other jobs.I do detect, however, a certain genuine enthusiasm for your job -- you have a great boss, the money is fantastic -- that leads me to believe that perhaps you&amp;#039;re not so worried about giving your boss a panic attack as you are about giving yourself one. The point is, it&amp;#039;s natural for you to grieve a bit as you go from &amp;quot;number two&amp;quot; in your boss&amp;#039;s life to &amp;quot;number one&amp;quot; in the life of your son.But back to your original concern: Just tell your boss concisely and clearly that you&amp;#039;ve loved working together and appreciate the opportunities she has extended to you, but that you&amp;#039;re giving your notice. How much notice? I consulted a few friends in a similar working situation and they felt that four weeks is a reasonable amount of time for you to stay and help train &amp;quot;the new you&amp;quot; -- but you should also tell your boss you&amp;#039;re willing to be flexible. Depending on when you drop the bomb (Is your boss going on vacation? Is there a corporate retreat planned?), you may need to stay a week or two longer.True, your boss will be sad to lose you, but remember, she didn&amp;#039;t get where she is today without possessing a certain amount of fortitude -- the same sort of fortitude you&amp;#039;re exhibiting in making and sticking with this difficult (but wonderful) decision.   Award-winning writer Karen Karbo is the author of How to Hepburn: Lessons on Living from Kate the Great. She&amp;#039;s also a mom, a writing teacher, and a horse owner. Send your questions to her at: The Hard Stuff, REDBOOK, 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019 or karenkarbo@redbookmag.com. Letters may be edited for clarity and length, and must include your initials, age, city, and state. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.redbookmag.com/life/money-career/advice/a1570/quit-job-hs/>