Revisiting the Mommy Track - the generation that has it all? "by Jane Bryant Quinn, July 17, 2000, for Newsweek Magazine."
"Jane Bryant Quinn, best-selling author of "Making the Most of Your
Money," published by Simon and Schuster."
When mothers first think about leaving paying work, they often hesitate.
"I like the challenges of my job," says Michele Smallidge, 34, of South
Salem, N.Y., a hospital exercize physiologist who's expecting her second
child. Business reporter Angela Geiser, 31, of Temecula, Calif., worries
about losing her identity. "I will probably continue to say that I'm a
writer, even if I stay home," she says.
A mom: That sounds familiar to New Yorker Cynthia Ryan, 38, who abandoned
her home-based jewelry business after her daughter was born and now hosts
a weekly mothers' group. "We all found that the transition from work to
home takes six months psychologically," she says. "After that, you feel
- I'm a mom'."
Jocelyn Ravel-Conde, 35, of San Diego, says it wasn't easy to downsize to
her husband's $50,000 salary, but "it was hard to think who I'd leave my
kids with and what values they'd pick up" if she kept her job. In
Naperville, Ill., Kimberly Stemm, 27, misses her $35,000 pay but doesn't
want to miss her daughter's youth.
Pediatrician Allison Seckler, 34, of Boca Raton, Fla., who now works two
nights a week in the emergency room, says what's really hard is minding
kids. She loves it, but "it's exhausting and you don't get a break."
Smallidge thinks at-home moms are getting more respect. "People see the
value in doing things properly, decorating, child care, the whole thing.
It makes you feel important."
Non of these moms worries about dependency. Besides earning power, they
have more financial savy than older generations did. Many tend IRAs or
401(k)s from a former job. Joint bank accounts are the norm, as are joint
decisions about savings and insurance.
These women generally plan to return to paying jobs. Employers will
welcome them because of the labor shortage expected as older boomers
retire, says Cornell University sociology professor Phyllis Moen. The
moms may not get career jobs, but the work will be attractive enough.
Maybe this is the generation that has it all.
Reporters: Temma Ehrenfeld, Jamie Reno, Sarah Downey and Elizabeth
Roberts. Published with Permission from Newsweek Magazine
