“Most mothers today are working; in fact most mothers with children under 18 are in the full-time labor force. But they can’t take the jobs that offer promotion quite often. They can’t take jobs that require a lot of overtime or jobs that require a lot of travel…. It’s now been estimated that if you have one child and you’re a college graduate, your lifetime earnings will be about a million dollars lower than a woman who does not have a child. That is what I call a “mommy tax.” A lot of our best and brightest women are not having children because we put such a high price on it. They have to give up so much of their training, their education, their love of their work.”
Filed under: Kids, Practical Tips | Tags: battles, chaos, choices, Morning
If your house is anything like mine in the morning, the routine usually includes a lot of “Hurry up! Get moving!”, arguing over clothing choices, crying over oatmeal for breakfast again, followed by a smack-down wrestling match to get flailing arms and writhing bodies into winter coats. Here’s a tip from Working Mother Magazine: try the “Either – Or” game instead of the usual “What do you want for breakfast?” and “What do you want to wear?” Two choices on everything. Would you like oatmeal or bagels? Would you like to put on your jeans or your shirt first?
I admit, it’s not a fool-proof idea. And if you have a “negotiator” child like I do, you might end up serving leftover halloween candy for breakfast and sending him out the door sans mittens. But if it simplifies the morning battles even a teensy bit, it’s worth it.
