Strollerderby
Welcome to the Mommy World, Ms Levit
It is entirely possible that I am too mean. Know that I know this.
As much as I want to be all mommy-chummy with every woman who makes the startling discovery that having a baby isn’t exactly like you thought it would be, I just can’t do it. Sisterhood is beyond me, especially when my “sister” is just so damn smug.
Read Alexandra Levit’s piece in the HuffingtonPost and tell me that your immediate reaction isn’t “oh, you poor thing” but rather “oh, for fuck’s sake.”
Yes, it is hard to not be able to jet off to Connecticut for a speaking event at a Fortune 500 company at a moment’s notice. Yes, you won’t be as effective at keeping up with trends or taking advantages of opportunities. Yes, you will probably watch those younger than you zip up the corporate ladder. Certainly you have been a corporate career expert long enough to know this would happen.
You ask for advice. I can give it because I was once in the same place you are — 32, new mom, proud of my workplace accomplishments and convinced that they mattered in this new phase of my life. You are embarking on something that is going to be really hard in ways you’ve not anticipated. I don’t envy where you are and wish you the best of luck.
While I’d like to say what most moms say, which is “but having my baby made all of the career setbacks worthwhile because he is just so precious,” I won’t. You know as well as I do that is both profoundly true and a load of crap. When you have kids, you learn quickly that two seemingly opposite things almost always exist simultaneously. Perhaps the first set up words to consider are “humility” and “pride.”
Photo credit: www.ubergizmo.com
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8 Comments
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amShe lost me at the point where she pinned all of her hopes and dreams on attaining a position middle management*. Unintentionally hilarious! And quite possibly a Cake song…..
(Explains her yawn-inducing writing style too.*)
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amSounds like she’s wishing she could dig out a receipt and return that baby to the store!
With all of that work-lingo she’s spouting, I imagine she’d benefit from some relaxation and a longer maternity break to aid in finding a little perspective. I would be interested to hear her reflections after some more time has gone by. Keep us updated, Adrienne. Insightful comments even if they do sound a little mean.
TheNewsJunkie commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amI would love to see this also from her husband’s point of view. Is he worried about his career? Her language makes it seem as if she’s preparing to concede parts of her career whereas his won’t be much affected.
Hmmmm.
lilmissyny commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amYou always hear about the plight of the executive/new mom. What about the masses?
I’m a legal secretary who had to come back after 8 weeks of leave and figure out how to be productive, pump twice a day and get home in time to take care of her family? Lawyers at my firm get more leave and 100% of their salary (the firm makes up the shortfall). And there are others who have it much worse than I do.
This person doesn’t even have the demanding schedule that other people at her level are pressured into when they return from maternity leave. She has options.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amOh, come on–she’s just getting a discussion started. She’s put all of her energy over the past 10 years into her career and, as we all know, it’s disconcerting to refocus that energy. The woman had a baby two weeks ago. I couldn’t drag myself down the stairs two weeks after I had a baby. Give her a break.
Chicory commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amI think it’s interesting that she seems to think that women getting pregnant and becoming mothers in their early 20s is a new phenomenon. That women are doing this “younger and younger” these days.
By the time my mom was my age, she’d had 4 children and a tubal ligation. I’m just getting started on my 2nd. And what about all the media attention on women putting off childbearing…
I think she must live a very rarified life.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amOh wow, she loves herself, doesn’t she?
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amUgh. That wasn’t as much of a post about her being a new mom as a “look how great I am” article. I think her son was mentioned once apart from the birthing experience. I can understand the problem she’s having but she needs to work on being a little more relatable.
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