Rating: 
Summary: Let's put the kids first!
Review: This lovely little book does a good job of arguing the case for mothers staying home with their children, if this is at all possible. It also features discussions of the most common problems that mothers at home face, and suggests some good ideas for dealing with them. The best and most important point made by Dr. Hunter is that women who stay home have more time and energy to devote to building their marriages and their families. While the "day care" argument is open to disagreement and controversy, it cannot be debated that there are twenty-four hours in a day. The mother who devotes ten of those hours to work and related requirements (travel, etc) simply can't give as much to her family as she would probably like. When she is at home, she is often physically and emotionally drained, and possibly preoccupied with work-related problems. Her husband is almost certainly facing similar problems, so the family usually suffers to some degree. Another very good argument is that which addresses older children and loneliness and supervision issues. Too many moms assume it's just fine to work full-time when the child goes to school. The reality is that our culture, and especially our youth culture, can be dangerous and destructive. Older children need parents who know how they're spending their time, parents who talk to them when they need it, parents who teach them right and wrong, parents who guide their friendships and media choices and parents who spend lots of time building a family that is an appealing alternative to constant peer interaction. Part time work or study can be compatible with this, but full time work will probably make it unrealistic for the parents to fully meet such needs. The arguments from infant attachment and the problems of day care are also important, but they may be over-stated just a bit. To some readers, these may sound like discouraging and fatalistic predictions. Like the other issues I mentioned above, this is an area where one-career families are decidedly in a better position. However, if singles or dual-career couples recognize the problems and pitfalls of not having mom at home, they can work around them to some extent. The need to work should never be an excuse, or a reason for despair! The weakest chapter in the book is chapter seven. I do not believe that the rash of "school shootings" had nearly as much relevance to this issue as Dr. Hunter implied. She had no specific information or evidence to bring to the table, and should definitely have left this emotionally charged issue out of the book. Scare tactics like these are below the belt. All parents should realize that the standards in our culture with regards to family life are far too low. Regardless of what work arrangements might be necessary, there isn't a parent who can't learn from this book the simple point that our families must be our first priority, not just in our words but also in the choices we make day by day.
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