This fascinating NYTimes opinion piece, "Why Gender Equality Stalled," goes into (among other things) how American families have very little help in balancing work with the demands of family life.
Even in my more-family-friendly-than-most-jobs job as a teacher, I find it very challenging to meet the demands of my work with doing everything I need to do for my family. Having young children is very intense; not only do they need you physically, you are also their emotional center. It's pretty much a given that if they are awake, they are on you! After being separated from them all day, I like that... but this is a very demanding time in life, I feel.
I am thankful that I went into teaching; I like having more frequent vacations than the average job so I can be with my children. Something that's true, and that I think about quite often, is that I went into teaching because I felt it would be the best job to have when I had kids. And even if I didn't meet a good husband, I was going to have kids as a single mom. That's how much I wanted kids. I chose this job, along with other reasons, like it's fun and rewarding, because I knew it was a job that I'd be better able to balance with kids if I needed to be a single mom.
Rounding Up the Thoughts of a Mom Teacher Writer
