I read A Window Opens this week, and walked away frustrated. This book, while having some true moments, reads mostly like some sort of conservative treatise against women in the workplace. It was supposed to be true and honest, but to me it came off as a ridiculous warning.
Look, I know a woman's decision to work is a personal one that needs to take place on a family by family level. However, if you do go back to work, I don't think it will cause your husband to become an alcoholic, keep you so busy that you won't realize when your kids learn to read, or try to prohibit you from sitting by the death bed of a loved one. If any of those things does happen, it's probably a sign that you have the wrong job, not that you can't have one. (You should probably also try some marriage counseling. If you need to leave work because your kid is sick, and no one can find your husband because he's passed out drunk in the basement, that is not the fault of your job.)
I have this frustration a lot. It seems like authors can't write about working moms without having them be either complete screw ups at work, or frazzled messes who can never be depended upon to bring cookies to the bake sale. I'm not saying life is easy over here, or that I have it all together. I'll promise you this though - I know my kids' teachers names, my kids' teachers know my name, my kids knowing how to read would never come as a surprise to me, I made it to two parent teacher conferences this week, and no one has threatened to fire me.
My suggestion: skip this book.
A Book I Did Like About Working and Caregiving:
