> Lucky is the woman who has figured out how to stay home with her baby.
Most
> women truely do not have the option. I did. I was fortunate, had a small
> home and did without a lot of things (like dental care and only having one
> car).

You know, the question of working or being at home with a baby is perenially
challenging. I struggle with statements like "most women truly do not have
the option" because I know many, many women who have come up with (sometimes
amazingly creative) strategies to stay with their babies in situations where
another woman might say she had no choice but to go to work. It comes down
to priorities. We can become very emotional in defending our choices, and at
times the discussion gets very heated. I'm not meaning this to come across
as a criticism of mothers who choose to work or who feel they have no choice
but to work. I feel very strongly that as a society we need to do more to
allow mothers and babies to be together.

I think that when separation from babies and returning to work are taken for
granted, sometimes parents don't even consider other options. Most of the
people they know are working, most of the professionals they talk to assume
they will be working, and often there is nobody talking about how mothers
and babies can stay together.

Even in Canada, where most women (but certainly not all) are eligible to
stay home for a full year after their babies are born, many women think that
pumps and bottles are a necessity for every breastfeeding mother. It's taken
for granted that they will want or "need" to be apart from their babies
frequently. That's more about society's beliefs about mothers and babies
than about finances.

Teresa Pitman
Guelph, Ontario

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