Price of Motherhood

by Contributor

Ann Crittenden is an award-winning journalist, author, and lecturer. She was a reporter for The New York Times for eight years, writing on a broad range of economic topics. Initiating numerous investigative reports and nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

In her book the Price of Motherhood she says:

"When I became a mother, I couldn’t believe how much of a challenge it was. It takes wisdom, patience, character, part-teacher, part-counselor, part-manager and all the other skills that make up a highly skilled labor force. Can you believe I actually had someone say to me, ‘Of all the couples we know, you’re the only woman who doesn’t work?’"

"… I realized how little my former world seemed to understand, or care, about the complex reality I was discovering," writes Crittenden in her book. "The dominant culture of which I had been a part considered childrearing unskilled labor, if it considered childrearing at all. And no one was stating the obvious:

If human abilities are the ultimate fount of economic progress, as many economists now agree, and if those abilities are nurtured (or stunted) in the early years, then mothers and other caregivers of the young are the most important producers in the economy. They do have, literally, the most important job in the world."

What was/is your experience?