So I'm not usually into the feminist stuff since I really believe that what you do in your house and life is your business and what I do in mine is, well mine. And I never really got into the "mommy war" thing between stay-at-home moms and working moms. All I know is that for a variety of reasons I will be a working mother. First off, I think that if I work especially in a career I am passionate about, it makes me a more confident, interesting, and a nicer person. And I think that not being home all day would allow me to give higher quality time to my future offspring instead of just quantity. Then there's that whole second paycheck thing and all that..I could go on, but I'll spare you all. But the funny thing is, I have been suffering this huge guilt trip over the idea that I would like to have kids but also have a career that I really invested in. I have spent hours agonizing over my decisions to pursue such a career and how to potentially make it as family friendly as possible without curtailing my ability to accomplish what I hope to do with my eventual degrees.
I mean I know it's silly to worry about kids when I don't even have them, but I'm a planner and thus worry about future events probably more then I should.
Anyhow, I somehow stumbled on a book called The Feminine Mistake and whatever anyone thinks about it (and there have been a million positive and negative reviews/comments, etc) it was a generally nice "soothing" read in that it shifted my mindset and got rid of a lot of guilt. Including most importantly numerous studies and statistics (which as a scientist meant I had to actually look up the primary source since I don't trust how studies are actually mis-summarized) that children of a two income family are not irrevocably ruined and likely to turn into serial killer.
So now I just need to remember the confidence I have in my decision when a maternity leave ends and I leave a tiny baby to go back to a job....hhhhmmm, guess we'll see how that goes!
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