I feel fortunate to be able to earn income and raise my children, instead of entrusting their care to someone else. Having been on both sides of the issue, I feel that I understand both the decision to return to work for personal and financial reasons, and to stay home and nurture our children. It's a very hard decision, and I feel extraordinarily fortunate to have found a way to balance both. Of course, my priorities have changed dramatically. Where I used to derive an enormous sense of my self from my work and the personal and monetary rewards I received, I now see myself as the keeper of a piece of the future, and the caretaker of two extraordinary creatures who need me to guide them, love them, teach them, and learn from them.
Children are only children once.
One mother examines how we can avoid stereotyping when we make decisions about who cares for the children so that our children, both boys and girls, will have more options when they become parents. I find myself in something of a bind. I want my daughter to pursue a career with vigor. I also want my daughter to know that all these years I've put raising her ahead of my own career have been both valued by me and valuable to her. I believe the years I've spent being here for my daughter have contributed significantly to her development.