What's a Smart Woman Like You Doing at Home? [Paperback]

Linda Burton (Author), Janet Dittmer (Author), Cheri Loveless (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 174 pages
• Publisher: Family & Home Network; Revised edition (March 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0963118811
• ISBN-13: 978-0963118813
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #292,873 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Positive Reinforcement for Stay-At-Home Moms, November 26, 1999

By 

Roxanne Brandon Coffey (Tennessee) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What's a Smart Woman Like You Doing at Home? (Paperback)

As someone with several advanced degrees including an MBA, I was often told that I was wasting my education by staying home to raise my son (currently 2 yrs of age). I found the essays and quotes in this book very supportive of my choice.

This book does not provide mommy tips but it does give voice to many of the reasons for staying at home. I reread sections of it after talking with my career minded friends as a way to remind me that my decision is the right one for me.

If you want to stay at home with your children whether they are infants or teens, this book will make you feel that you are making the right decision.

If you believe you need to be out working then this book would probably just irritate you!

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Changed My Life!, September 26, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: What's a Smart Woman Like You Doing at Home? (Paperback)

I am so happy to have found this book when I did! It changed my life almost 13 years ago, and so many times I wonder how my life might be different if I hadn't read it. I strongly encourage every mom to read it, whether you are a new or seasoned mom, whether your currently work full-time or part-time or have chosen to be home to raise your children. I guarantee that you will find it thought-provoking! I was a career woman when I became pregnant with twins. I believed the ever-popular myth that women could easily "have it all," happily juggling the perfect family life with the perfect full-time career. As soon as I became a mother, I realized more than ever before that life is full of trade-offs: there are only so many hours in a day, so many days in a week, so many years at home in a child's life. I knew I had to choose my priorities carefully. This unique book includes material not easily found in the mainstream media. Through its commentary and essays, it begged me to think through my short and long-term priorities and choose what was right for me and my family. What's A Smart Woman Like You Doing at Home? helped me to see the "big picture" and helped me realize the path I wanted and needed to take to fulfill my wish of becoming the best mother I could be. Reading the material covered in the three sections, Searching for Supermom and Discovering Home * Startling Realizations and Gentle Discoveries * Mothers and Society -- Perceptions and Possibilities, was an eye-opener and a much-cherished gift! My thanks to the authors and the many mothers who shared their heartfelt stories.

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars in praise of freedom of choice, December 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: What's a Smart Woman Like You Doing at Home? (Paperback)

I think the review from "northeast USA" was way overblown. I too thought I would continue working when I became a parent - but that changed when I actually became one, and realized no other caregiver would love our child as much as we, her parents. This book does not condemn parents who work outside the home, but encourages mothers to make their own choice! So little of what is available in the media encourages the choice to be at home, it is nice to read a factual book that lets us know mothers at home are not throwbacks to the dark ages, and that we have the opportunity to make different choices at different stages of our lives.