Customer Reviews

Not Your Mother's Life : Changing the Rules of Work, Love, and Family

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I have to preface this: I'm not a mom yet, so I know zip from experience.

I have some quibbles with some of the Moms profiled in this book who say that bringing their kids to work was no problem. If you're the boss, and you bring your child to the office, your employees aren't going to tell you to your face they mind them being there...but I can say from experience, having your bosses child at the office is a distraction. Also, having to babysit isn't great. The story of the army officer who breast fed her baby in the field seemed outrageous to me.

That said, I think that a lot of the advice is sound, and some of the stories of women who've done it are very inspirational.

Some of the key bits :

- Plan your life (but expect your plans to change)
- Save your pennies
- Choose a career that will give you flexibility. (Yes, they do exist--but you have to look, and you've got to work very, very hard to get to the point where this luxury will be available to you.)
- Pick a good husband!!!! Someone who shares your values. And discuss raising children BEFORE you get hitched.

All good advice.

For all the women of my generation who are confused and frustrated by the millions of options and pitfalls involved in combining career, family and self, this book is a strong answer to those questions. Peters writes clearly and well about the encouraging possibility that we can do everything we want without sacrificing ourselves, our families, or our careers. Sound impossible? That's because we've been brainwashed by the generations before us to believe that we must either be workaholics or stay-at-home mom. Thanks to Peters, we can now remember that there is a balance between them.