The Changing Face of the Stay-at-Home Mom: Raising Your Children Without Losing Your Goals

The Changing Face of Motherhood


Once upon a time, in the not too distant past, there were two types of women: those with careers and those with children. Those with careers proved that women could be just as invaluable to the workforce as men, and those with children raised a productive and ambitious generation. The girls who grew up seeing women thrive in engineering, law, medicine and business grasped at the dream of “having it all” by combining careers and motherhood. For many, leaving the six-week old son at day care for 40 hours a week, spending less than three waking hours a day with the preschool daughter and trying to fit in romance and personal time in the weekends was hardly a fairy tale ending. 

Recent BabyCenter (www.babycenter.com) surveys found that although 60% of the responding new mothers returned to work, three-quarters of them struggled with the decision, and 40% called the experience “wrenching.” The choice to stay home with children is gaining respect and support. A recent Los Angeles Times poll showed that regardless of gender, marital or parental status, the majority of respondents agreed that “children are better served being with their parents full-time and not being placed in day care before the age of four” (Los Angeles Times, June 19, 1999). 

The new parent track is a viable option for the woman who wants to have it all: a successful, fulfilling career and time to raise her children. It challenges the assumption that staying home with small children is detrimental to a parent’s career and asserts that, along with being a priceless and irreplaceable gift to the children, this time can be invaluable to the parent’s personal and professional development. Parenthood can alter a person’s perspective, goals and values and taking a sabbatical provides a time to assess these changes and prepare for future within the new framework.
Profile of the at-home mother.