Sunday Times article about working women by India Knight.........

[ssd]

Did you read it and if you did what did you think?

FWIW I agree with her, will probably be stoned now.

Does it have to be balsamic? Or can I just use the white vinegar that I use as rinse-aid on the nappies?

so are careers more important than being with your children?

but don't you think you can have a plan before you have children, and then once you have them, you realise that perhaps your pre-kids plan doesn't really stack up? And Lovecloud,. I work 3-4 days a week. Does that make me an ok mum on some weeks and a borderline bad mum on other weeks? Would be really interested to know where that line is that I am zigzagging across regularly.... (oh, and would you like to know how old I am? )

she should have accompanied that bit with sahm making woh mothers feel like shit too.....

like i said the tone is v sanctimonious....but i don't think there is enough of a hoo ha about how poor the current govts social policy is on these matters...

nothing wrong with starting at 30, just wondering if women over 30 are more likely to use childcare full time.

Oh, agree with the having a plan thing - hence my working four days a week before I went on maternity leave so I could earn more and hopefully stay off work longer than I did with DS (when I went back mad hours so I could spend the maximum amount of time with DS, expressed so he only ever had breastmilk and nearly killed myself in the process - which hopefully will make Lovecloud a bit happier ).

sorry still not good enough

the balsamic vinegar b it int he article made me rofl

Sophable, completely agree with you about social policy being sketchy and pants. I wrote to my MP about it - said that if they wanted women to breastfeed for six months exclusively, they would do better to extend the paid period of maternity leave since most women didn't go on mat leave the day their baby was born and most women couldn't afford to take all of the six months unpaid leave.

Got a "yes, but women are given a year off and la la not listening to the rest" response...

lovecloud, you are digging yourself into something of a hole here I think! not only are working mothers (once they cross that famous line from slightly part time to rather more part time to full time) wrong (it's a fact apparently...), but the very "fact" that older mothers tend to use more full time childcare leads me to beleive that.... perhaps leaving child bearing to your 30s (and shock horror even your late 30s) is wrong too.....
I think I may be in serious trouble... I've got it ALL wrong....

Lovecloud - I believe it was Voltaire who advised 'think for yourselves and let others enjoy the priviledge to do so too'.

Wise words, I believe.

I have no problem with you holding the views which you do, but to assume that these are 'right' and shared with the rest of the human race, is why I said, and still believe, that you are narrowminded.

OK, only did four days a week for four months, DS either with either set of grandparents (who he adores) or DH - howzat?

Soapbox, agree totally.

Lovecloud, did you work before you had your child?

hunker, have you worked out who's "not good enough" (the world according to lovecloud).... you or me?!?!

I think we should reproduce when biology intended, i.e. when we are 14. There we are, that is "right" and I won't hear a word against it. Also then we would not have to be working mothers as we would all be at school until our babies were also at school. Problem solved!

Ooh, Orangina - has to be both of us, surely?

It is very difficult to say anything about children's welfare without sounding critical of parents, which makes people angry. Sometimes I think that goes too far. So you get people on MN who jump on anyone who says that, say, they saw someone walloping their tiny kid around the head, and people say, 'oh you shouldn't judge. i bet that parent was having a bad day' and sometimes I think, 'yeah, well at least nobody four times their size was walloping them around the head'.
NOT saying that going to work is the same thing btw.

hunkers, we are both bad bad mothers. and tribpot, you are genius!

I also nodded throughout and on the bit about Balsamic Vineger too...

And btw, the fact that India also "has it on good authority" that balsamic vinegar has had its day demonstrates quite clearly at what level of journalism we are operating!

In my opinion.

14 is too young biologically actually. Biologically you should wait until fully grown otherwise you risk birth complications.

I love the Three Little Wolves book too. Can I just point out (ahem) that I'm pretty sure I sent you a duplicate copy of one of the Polly books, cod, many moons ago? Incidentally, for slightly older children there's a pretty good series of mock fairy tales by Laurence Anholt like Shampoozel .

sophable, I do see your point, but she has been very explicit about blaming mothers, in particular, in other articles.