Are you a working mom? Do you struggle to find the balance between parenting and working? So did Whitney Casares, MD, MPH, FAAP. So she wrote the book The Working Mom Blueprint: Winning at Parenting Without Losing Yourself.
Now, something tells me that Casares wrote this book prior to the COVID-19 pandemic because a lot of the advice seems simple enough - in a non-COVID world. (At least to me. I mean, how do you pick a babysitter for a much-needed date night if you're concerned about whether that person is vaccinated or has COVID and you and your spouse don't want to eat inside a restaurant?) It's also a shame that only the Preface really addresses the COVID-19 pandemic and how it disproportionately puts the burden of childcare on mothers.
And the book's introduction doesn't inspire confidence that the book offers an end-all, be-all solution for every problem working mothers face. As Casares writes, that's "not because the problems don't exist or because they're not worth solving, but because some of them won't ever be settled until society adapts and evolves."
So, once again, the burden of figuring out how working mothers can thrive in a modern world falls on...working mothers.
However, the advice in this book gives you a lot to think about as you plan the arrival of your baby or figure out how to return to your job post-partum. This would be a great book to give as a baby shower gift, along with all those diapers and wipes.
Seriously, new parents need LOTS of diapers and wipes. Really more wipes than diapers because do you know how hard it is to wipe up a poop?
But I digress.
Moms of older kids can also benefit from this book. Those moms, like me, may want to skim or skip some of the chapters that are clearly specific to new and expecting moms. But there is a chapter on taking care of toddlers and elementary school kids, and the majority of chapters are very open to working moms in general.
I really appreciated the Self-care Guides and Resources section at the back of the book, giving the reader space to journal down their goals and dreams, set priorities, and brainstorm activities to promote connection with a partner. Essentially, society is not going to change for us any time soon, so we need to stop caring so hard about being perfect in society's eyes and find joy in the motherhood experience.
The Working Mom Blueprint is published by the American Academy of Pediatrics and is available to purchase now. I received a free review copy.
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