The Real World of Stay-at-Home Mothers
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I read the Oct. 1 front-page story "Most Stay-at-Home Moms Start That Way, Study Finds" with great interest, since I am one of these mythological creatures.
I am a 39-year-old mother of a 20-month-old daughter, and I'm expecting my second child next year. Before I became a mom, I worked for 15 years as a health-care lobbyist.
I can assure you that my employment prospects formed no part of the decision-making process that ultimately resulted in me giving up my six-figure salary to be a full-time mother. The absolute lack of child care on Capitol Hill, my child's needs and the outright hostility to working mothers in my workplace were of much more concern to me.
Every stay-at-home mother I have met on Capitol Hill has a story similar to mine. We are all college-educated and have distinguished career histories, but we have discovered, much to our surprise, that we could not keep our careers and be good mothers. While we may be unique to the Hill neighborhood, we are not hard to find. Just go to Stanton Park anytime during the workday. We'll be there with our kids.
ERIN McKEON
Washington
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It was not until close to the end of the Oct. 1 front-page story that a glaring bias in the U.S. Census Bureau report was revealed. The study defined stay-at-home moms as "those who did not work in the previous year, said they were home to care for their families and had a husband employed all 52 weeks."
I consider myself an at-home mom, but because I did part-time data-entry work for six weeks last year, I am excluded from that definition, along with any mother who worked part time or from home, even if only for a few hours a month.
