Customer Reviews

Comeback Moms: How to Leave Work, Raise Children, and Restart Your Career Even if You Haven't Had a Job in Years

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I bought this book after reading a very favorable recommendation for it ([...]/2006/06). Although I normally don't invest in books like this, I found it intriguing and relevant to my life so I got it.

This book is filled with excellent advice on how to tackle balancing career goals with the needs of a family and covers almost every topic imaginable in the process. I especially enjoyed the tone in which the information is presented using humor and anecdotes to make many of its points, but still providing a tremendous amount of insight and valuable information. It is exactly what I was hoping to find - - informative, yet enjoyable to read.

I must say I was surprised to find an Amazon review of this book that suggested it was "patronizing." As a wife, mother, and student I found the information to be very applicable to most women I know. I see this book as being addressed primarily to women who spent a great deal of time and effort pursuing their education and careers prior to becoming wives and mothers. Their families and friends expected them to continue with the dreams they talked about as young girls and they are not used to hearing them now put the role of wife and mother as number one. I found the book to be an excellent look at life from that perspective, and although it is a great read for anyone, it is particularly relevant to that group of women. Thankfully, there are many such women out there. These women want to put their families first for a time and then get back out in the work place to pursue the careers they love.

Bravo! I'm glad to see there is something out there for us too!!!

The topic of this book is a great one: preparing women who decide to leave the workfore while raising their kids but want to return someday. I picked this book up at the library and was excited to get some good advice.

However, I could not get past the patronizing tone that the authors use towards their readers! Maybe some people like this kind of "Girlfriend's Guide" approach to the topic, but I found it to be totally demeaning to women.

Here's an example. One of the chapters is focused on preparing financially to leave the workforce--a great TOPIC, by the way. Here's an excerpt from that chapter:

"To figure out if you can stay home or not and for how long, you have to know your financial information better than you know Britney Spears's [sic]love life."

Blech..like I need to be ripped away from the gossip pages-give me a break. It goes on...

"Once you determine where your money is going, you'll know if you can cut back your spending and by how much.
Sit down with all your monthly bills.
Sometimes it's better to do this with your husband, empasis on the SOMETIMES. If he's a big spender and needs to understand how much debt the two of you are in and what you need to do to save, then take him through it. Show him the large stack of papers and corresponding checks you're about to write. Scare him into saving."

Scare him into saving. Nice attitude. It goes on:

"Maybe he's the one who usually pays the bills and you need to figure out what's going on with the budget. You're the big spender. Buy yourself a bag of candy and force yourself to go step by step over the budget with him."

BUY YOURSELF A BAG OF CANDY??? Like you couldn't possibly tackle something financial unless you have a bag of candy to pacify you? But there's more...

"Educate yourself. Think of this as the horrible prerequisite you have to take in order to graduate. Muscle through it."

Yes, because LEARNING about finances is so horrible that it must be muscled through. Ick. It goes on...

"You'll gain some shopping willpower when you look at the credit card bill and truly understand how much of your money goes to shoes and manicures."

SHOES and MANICURES??!? Could we get any more stereotypical? Yes, of course one of the steps to becoming financially independent is reviewing your expenses and determining wants vs needs, but must we reinforce steretypes about women's vanity?

Later on in this chapter the authors give advice about cars, and what kinds of sacrifices can be made to build up savings before one person stops working.

"Also, if you live near public transportation can you and your husband mangage with one car? We know it's a horrifying suggestion, but give it some thought. Obviously, if you live in a place like Texas or California or Nebraska where public transportation is an oxymoron this isn't an option for you."

It's horrifying to suggest that a family might make do with ONE car?? And if you live in Nebraska having less than two cars ISN'T an option? Have these people even heard of the concept of carpooling? I won't even talk about the use of the word oxymoron here, but last time I checked there was indeed public transportation in California.

I must also add that one of the authors goes out of her way to name drop her association with KARL ROVE as though that is something that is going to win over her readers. Maybe you're the kind of person that is impressed by Karl Rove. Maybe you think these "jokes" and chatty tone are funny. Maybe having less than two cars IS horrifying to you. If so, you will probably like this book.

But if any of this stuff raises your hackles, don't even bother picking it up. And if you have a better book to suggest, do it here on Amazon--we need an alternative to this one!

I love this book!!! It's loaded with great information yet entertaining and easy to read. I've read similar books and articles but found them pretty dull. I'm not that interested in reading a lot of studies and surveys. With kids to look after, I don't have a lot of time for that. I just like a book with practical information that gets right down to business. This book does just that. I highly recommend it!

In this day and age, we find that more and more mothers are making the decision to leave their careers to stay at home to raise their children and then return to work later. While the economy may make that difficult in the current economic times, Comeback Moms provides advice to mothers on how to successfully journey through this process. It provides insight on many of the factors involved as a result of this decision including the interference of family and friends.

I found the book to be filled with very "mom like" advice on how to handle the major issues that can arise from deciding to become a stay at home mom. I like the fact that the book tries to remove the "grass is always greener" mentality for career moms who feel that staying at home to raise kids might be easy.

I also found that the book gave sound practical advice on how to re-enter the job market after being away to raise the kids. It offers valuable suggestions such as volunteering, interning and apprenticeships.

The book gives the appearance that the material contained within might be somewhat dated. Do not let this deter you however, it was copyrighted in 2006 and the material is still relevant. While the book may be a slow read, it is definitely worth a look.

I agree with the reviewer who called these authors patronizing. There was some useful advice, but any positives were undone by my constant irritation with their attitude and tone.

Try reading "Back on the Career Track: A Guide for Stay-at-Home Moms Who Want to Return to Work" by Carol Fishman Cohen and Vivian Steir Rabin. They offer honest and practical advice without any disparagement.

I bought this book for my wife and she's been sharing a few excerpts from it. She is really enjoying it and I also found the tips very helpful.