The Working Mother's Guide to Life: Strategies, Secrets, and Solutions [Paperback]

Linda Mason (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 19, 2002

After you’ve made the decision to return to work following the birth of a child, you may still wonder, “Am I doing the right thing for my family?” and “How on earth do I make this work?” Now, The Working Mother’s Guide to Life sets out to offer you hundreds of answers to these types of questions, from nuts-and-bolts advice, such as finding top-notch child care and stress-free ways to manage your household, to more complex issues like separating from your child without feeling guilty and creating a rich, strong family culture that will thrive regardless of whether or not you are working.

Author Linda Mason—herself a working mom and founder of an award-winning company that cares for the children of working parents across the country—provides a reassuring, practical, and comprehensive guide based on interviews with more than 100 successful working mothers from diverse backgrounds. Here are countless strategies and tips from these experts on everything from household chores and returning to work with a newborn to finding communities of support.

• Building the Three Pillars of Success: A supportive workplace, a “partner-in-parenting,” and excellent child care
• Running a household, holding down a job, and thriving while keeping
it all together—from getting food on the table to getting out the door in the morning
• Setting your priorities, including nurturing your family, satisfying your employer,
and taking care of your own needs
• Tips from caregivers on how to help your
children blossom and grow in a variety of child care settings

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Mason, a mother of three and co-founder of Bright Horizons Family Solutions, draws on her strong background in employer-based work-site childcare as well personal experience to outline steps working mothers can take to make their lives easier. In some instances, however, her utopian ideas conflicts with reality. Although Mason did include poor single mothers along with middle-class professionals in the study she conducted, women with greater financial resources will have a far easier time following her program for successfully combining work and motherhood. Based on interviews with mothers and childhood educators, Mason has concluded that it is necessary to have a partner in parenting (not necessarily a husband), a supportive employer and excellent childcare as the three basic "pillars of support" for working mothers. Although she does offer strategies for achieving this ideal situation-such as how to convince employers of the value of a family-friendly workplace or ways to identify quality caregivers-many of these proposals are simply not available to most working mothers. Mason is more successful when she offers practical ideas for maximizing everyday quality family time. She suggests, for example, that when the traditional family dinner conflicts with schedules, gathering for dessert, playing games together or taking a family evening walk can provide the same degree of closeness.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

This all-encompassing manual is separated into three sections: "You're on Your Way," "The Three Pillars of Successful Working Motherhood," and "Making it Work for You." The majority of the book focuses on the third section, in which all working mothers find help in achieving balance in their lives by following Mason's solutions. Although Mason tries to fit moms into pre-defined labels (for instance, a mother's management style can be as a "Strategic Planner" or a "Camp Counselor," or her approach to work and family can make her a "Blender" or a "Separator"), these categorizations help mothers identify their own patterns, so they might find ways to resolve potential conflicts. The back matter, substantial but not daunting, is strengthened by short bibliographies at the end of sections, where Mason lists book titles and relevant Web sites. Mason herself is a working mother, running an acclaimed child-care services company (which gets a few too many plugs throughout), so she knows of what she speaks. Mary Frances Wilkens
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 1 edition (November 19, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609807358
• ISBN-13: 978-0609807354
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 1.3 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #175,867 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fantastic Book for Working Mothers, November 21, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Working Mother's Guide to Life: Strategies, Secrets, and Solutions (Paperback)

Highly recommended! I couldn't put it down - so informative and comprehensive, and chock full of advice and tips. I liked the personal, conversational tone the author used. Finally here's a book that's not just for "yuppie" moms but is so helpful for any mom. If you're a working mother, you need to have this book!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very useful guide and great gift, November 26, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Working Mother's Guide to Life: Strategies, Secrets, and Solutions (Paperback)

After buying this book for myself, I went out and bought copies for all the other working mothers in my life (as well as a couple of expectant moms). It's full of practical advise -- true to its title -- with strategies, secrets and solutions pulled from real life examples. Mason clearly has a gift for getting other mothers to reveal the truth about their struggles and how they overcame them. It's wonderful to see someone take the approach that you can work and parent at the same time -- and the advice from her own experiences and those of the others she interviewed provide practical approaches that will fit the styles of a variety of women.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Buy when you are prego, January 13, 2010

By 

Jamie Agnew "mymyrtle86" (Omaha, Nebraska USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Working Mother's Guide to Life: Strategies, Secrets, and Solutions (Paperback)

This book would have been MORE helpful if I would have purchased it when I first got pregnant. I of course have purchased practically every how-to, what to do, don't-do book on pregnancy, my new baby, and working after becoming a mom book there is. My husband and friends joke with me about my newly obtained library and how it has replaced the Harry Potter and Jodi Piccoult novels I used to have time for! This book provides alot of information and at this point (9 weeks post pregnancy) it's almost too late and not worth the money to only read the portions that apply to me.