Information Related to "Careers and Motherhood: Maximizing Your Options"
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"Are
you sure you want to quit work?" When I first thought about this question,
the answer was an absolute yes. I wasn't even pregnant yet, but I had always
imagined that I would earn a degree, work full-time and then quit work
to raise children while my husband worked.
After marrying and working a few years, I began looking forward to
a break from the pressures of corporate life in exchange for the challenges
and rewards of parenting. My husband Brendan and I read books about
children today receiving very limited time with men and how important
such time is to their development.
We heard male friends and coworkers comment that they never saw their kids except when they drove them somewhere. After much discussion and thought, Brendan decided to start his own business working from home, and I decided to work part-time from home. This would allow us to raise our children ourselves and spend more time with them.
Parenting and supporting a family financially may seem like responsibilities in the distant future to Vertical Thought readers, but this is a topic worth considering. Your educational and occupational choices now will largely determine your parenting and employment options later in life.
Much has been written about the benefits of families taking care of their children in their own homes instead of putting them in day care. While some may not be able to attain this ideal, it was one to which my husband and I were deeply committed.
Making plans
Brendan and I were working full-time in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and were without children when we began serious discussions about how to structure our life to raise children. We both enjoyed our work and yet felt likely to burn out with jobs requiring 50+ hours a week. We didn't like commuting, and we wanted to live in the country, preferably close to Brendan's relatives in Tennessee.
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