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Summary: A Mom Who Chose To Stay Home
Review: "And What Do You Do? When Women Choose to Stay Home by Loretta Kaufman and Mary Quigley really encompasses what many women who have chosen to put off their "careers" to stay home feel today. A sense of under-appreciation and misunderstanding of what it takes to make this decision and still feel self-worth. So many of us, myself included, made a decision to stay home to help our husbands and families flourish. Not knowing the challenges that faced us not only with the adjustment of being home, but what "people think" of stay-at-home-moms. Well this book is a story of many women, along with the authors, who have made this choice and have reaped the benefits ten-fold. Please if you are considering staying home or have made that choice, this book will truly inspire you. Thank you ladies for sending me such a great read!
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Summary: Advance Praise for AND WHAT DO YOU DO?
Review: "The wives and mothers profiled in the pages of ANDWHAT DO YOU DO? have a great answer to that question-they are doingnothing less than blazing new trails in the work/family/life balance. Kaufman and Quigley do an excellent job of putting names and faces to this important emerging trend of 'sequencing'-moving in and out of the paid workplace as family responsibilities ebb and flow. This book is a must read for women struggling with work/family decisions."Joanne Brundage, Founder and Executive Director, FEMALE (Formerly Employed Mothers at the Leading Edge). "The voices of dozens of innovative mothers heard in Kaufman and Quigley's book still the cultural cacophony surrounding mothers in recent decades. These women's stories bring to life a savvy counterculture unabashedly investing their skills, education, and imagination to yield a balance they crave in family life. They are confident that the self-knowledge and refinement mined in interdependent living will be the catalyst for any abundant life with adequate time 'for every season'". Margie Johnson, Chair of the Board, Mothers at Home
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Summary: A Mom Who Chose To Stay Home
Review: "And What Do You Do? When Women Choose to Stay Home by Loretta Kaufman and Mary Quigley really encompasses what many women who have chosen to put off their "careers" to stay home feel today. A sense of under-appreciation and misunderstanding of what it takes to make this decision and still feel self-worth. So many of us, myself included, made a decision to stay home to help our husbands and families flourish. Not knowing the challenges that faced us not only with the adjustment of being home, but what "people think" of stay-at-home-moms. Well this book is a story of many women, along with the authors, who have made this choice and have reaped the benefits ten-fold. Please if you are considering staying home or have made that choice, this book will truly inspire you. Thank you ladies for sending me such a great read!
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Summary: Publisher's Weekly praises *And What Do You Do?*
Review: (.......) Having interviewed "new traditional wives" from across the country, Kaufman and Quigley explore the difficulties that may come with the role of family CEO, intelligently dispelling myths like "your mind turns to mush" and "you can't afford to stay at home," and enticing readers with tales of unexpected rewards. Publisher's Weekly, April 10, 2000
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Summary: The most worthwhile of jobs - Motherhood
Review: After having worked and prospered in my career for 10 years, I found that I was hitting a ceiling. No, it wasn't the famous glass "salary" ceiling. It was the satisfaction ceiling. I could not seem to squeeze anymore joy or satisfaction out of my job no matter where I was, who I worked for (even myself), or how much I was paid. Motherhood is a whole new ballgame and I have found NO ceiling of satisfaction here. Even though the hours are long (24x7), I know that raising one member of the next generation is one of the most important jobs I can possibly do. This book sheds a new light on a new way of doing business - that being the business of raising our children. If you are considering - even for a minute - staying at home for a while to raise your young children, spend some time with this well-researched book.
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Summary: An overdue account of women who are selfless
Review: After reading this book and then reading the reviews on it I am so saddened and appalled by some of the responses. What I am reading are women that unfortunately get a sense of self-worth through punching a time clock as opposed to raising the children that they "had to have." This book is inspiring to women who are struggling with this decision and hopefully they will see that the "true and meaningful" job in life is raising your child. I have the rest of my life to work and in the mean time chose to volunteer in the community, chairing fundraising events, sitting on 2 Boards and "amazingly" feeling a great sense of self worth. And the best part--my daughter knows that I chose her and not a job to validate myself.
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Summary: If you need an inferiority complex, read this book!
Review: All of the stay at home moms in this book are very affluent, and either had very successful careers high on the corporate ladder or in acting or modeling, or their husbands are very wealthy (ceos, doctors, sports stars, actors). While it would be interesting to read a few stories of women who formerly had great careers and decided to interrupt them to stay home with their children, most stay at home moms are not like that. This book made me feel like I have never done anything with my life. Just not very useful to the normal mom, although if you are a millionaire CEO you might get something out of it.
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Summary: Still Struggling Fast Tracker
Review: Although I believe it is important for women and men to be reminded that more women are choosing to stay home to raise their kids, I don't feel this book added much value to the discussion. While this is a critical issue for our society today, the authors really stay at very superficial level of discussion. They choose to provide an endless set of examples of women who have chosen to stay at home but do not delve into any real discussion of identity, self worth, finances or career impact that women face. I liken this book to the level of a Cosmo article. It assumes the attitude that "if you make the right choice" (i.e. to stay home) all will work out magically in the end. Not only will the time out the workforce not impact you negatively but it will most likely enhance your career by allowing you to uncover hidden talents that you didn't know you had. Much of the examples ended with women becoming authors, starting a business or becomming vitally important volunteers of some type - not just stay at home moms. I found most of the examples pretty irrelevant to my situation in that they presented scenarios of women who's husbands were not only the primary wage earners but also superstars in their fields such as sports figures, well known authors, leading surgeons, well known political figures. Not to minimize the choices that these women made, but they represent a single class of scenario where the decision was not financially based and the husband clearly had the stellar job. Along those lines, I do not fit this profile. I am very successful at the age of 38. I make (at least)twice as much as my husband. Therefore the choice for me does have a very real financial component. I firmly believe that my choice would be different if my husband were in fact CEO of a Fortune 500 enterprise. While it is my personal conviction that staying at home to raise children is one of the most important roles a women can take on, I am still very much struggling with the impact to my life - from an identity, self esteem and perhaps social perspective. This book provided no new insights, no new information per say that would help one transition to part time work, job sharing, launching a business, etc. I would only recommend this book as a "feel good" read for women who have made the decision and want more validation that they made the right choice. I would not recommend it to women looking for a serious dialogue about how to make the transition and handle the impact to their career, self esteem and finances.
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Summary: Ridiculous
Review: Although the book was somewhat interesting, I simply see it as a way for women to attempt to justify pure laziness. Many women have been able to have children and STILL work. As a matter of fact, out of all my friends, the oens who work are the ones who are happiest. They feel like true partners in their marriages and their kids can actually do things for themselves rather than relying on MOM to do it. Another thing? The women in the book claimed that they felt like they were partners in hteir marriages. I disagree. If they were really partners in their marriage, then why couldn't their husbands stay home? Or better yet, why did their husband's careers have to conme first, often at the expense of their own? THat's not a partnership in my opinion. Like I mentioned previously, the book is a very weak attempt to justify laziness. That's all it really is.
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Summary: Hypocritical
Review: First of all I think that most of the women in this book are degrading themselves by saying that they are not capable of handling a job and taking care of children. Second I don't understand why the women don't insist that the husbands take a more active role in parenting. Third i don't appreciate these women trying to throw stones at working mothers. I certianly have more respect for working mothers. Sorry, but you will never convince me that those kids in Columbine shot up that school because their mothers didn't stay home. THAT in itself is a whole different issue of parenting. Quite frankly the book is sickening and takes women all the way back to the 1950's as far as women's roles. I was particularly appalled when the women claimed that in their partnership marriages, their husbands careers and lives came first. What is equal about that? I'm sure the men DO support their wives staying home because they are getting spoiled out of the deal. I threw my copy away.
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