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A Balancing Act: Leslie Bennetts, Author of The Feminine Mistake

Samantha: How did your job change work out for you?

Leslie: My job is ideal in some ways. I have in some ways been a stay-at-home mom simply because I am a writer who works at home. But as any mother knows, little children have to be attended to every minute. I was really fortunate to luck into the world's most wonderful babysitter. We had the same babysitter throughout all of the years that my kids were growing up.

Samantha: Every mom worries about their kids growing up to resent them �?? working moms in particular worry that their kids will resent them for not being around as much as the stay at home moms. Have you seen this?

Leslie: There are several sociologists who are doing work on this and the findings are very different than what you might expect. Very often the kids who grow up with stay at home moms end up feeling that that was the wrong choice. One man I interviewed for my book said, �??I would have had a much better childhood - and my mother and father would have had a much better marriage - if my mother had something else to do because she was so overly invested in me.  She was afraid to let me make mistakes or take chances or have any independence.�?� Often, as the children of working mothers get older, they come to really respect what their mothers did and to view them as role models.

Samantha: Many women have concerns about childcare. What do you say to them?

Leslie: 80% of women in this country are actually happy with their childcare. The truth is although the media has kind of demonized daycare and childcare, and a lot of stay at home moms feel as though every babysitter is a potential axe murderer, many of us have had wonderful relationships with babysitters.

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