Home > Health > MOMania > Archives > 2008 > September > 03
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Can mothers balance high-powered jobs and kids?
How do mothers, like Gov. Sarah Palin, balance the demands of their jobs against the demands of their families? Is it fair to their children? Is it fair to the job?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Is it a 1950s throwback or a fair question: Can a mother of small children, like Gov. Sarah Palin, balance a high-powered job and still meet all her family’s needs?
One of our readers asked for us to discuss: “What are the pros and cons of trying to balance motherhood and a high-powered job? Are the children short-changed? What about the job? How can this balance be achieved?”
There is an excellent story in The Washington Post by Lois Romano examining how Gov. Palin currently is managing her family of 5 kids (including her 4-month-old special needs son) and running the state of Alaska. Here is the link to the full story.
Here a few excerpts from The Washington Post story:
“Palin has carefully portrayed herself throughout her career as someone committed to both family and profession — and tough enough to handle both. She made a show of dismissing the chef at the governor’s mansion saying she wanted to do her own cooking, and that the kids were old enough to make their own sandwiches. And no one can recall her ever having a full-time babysitter.”
” ‘You walk into her office and Piper is sitting there, the baby is in the crib — that’s just the way it is. This is how she lives her life. Someone who was in a meeting with her recently said she was discreetly nursing Trig,’ said Palin’s biographer Kaylene Johnson.”
” ‘She’s heard that her whole life — the challenges of being a female and mother in the workforce,’ Palin’s husband, Todd, said in the same interview with People a few days ago. ‘I remember the first time she ran for mayor one of her fellow council members told her you can’t run because you’ve got three negatives: Track, Bristol and Willow. Those are the three kids we had at the time. So when you tell her that kind of stuff, she just gets fired up.’ ”
“Trig Paxton Van Palin could end up being the best-traveled infant in America. Campaign sources said that the baby would be with his mother a good part of the time, and that arrangements are being made to have a babysitter travel with them. Confirms grandmother Sally Heath, ‘I can’t imagine she would leave him behind.’ ”
One interesting stat for this discussion that The Washington Post story pointed out:
“Although a clear majority of mothers today are in the workforce, studies show that the pendulum has swung back, and most are skeptical about mothers working full time; they see part-time jobs as the ideal. A recent survey by Pew Research reported that only 11 percent of working mothers believe it’s good for children when the mother works full time.”
So what do you guys think? Can mothers (I think especially with young children — I don’t think it’s as much an issue when their kids are grown or in college) balance high-powered jobs and take care of their families? Is sleep deprivation an issue, especially for mothers with infants? Does it matter if the infant is special needs?
Permalink | Comments (187) | Post your comment | Categories: Ethics of rearing kids today
