Every now and again when I don’t want to have to concentrate too hard, I pick up a “Chicken Soup” book. For those of you who have never read one, they are essentially anthologies of essays on a given topic. They range from books about motherhood to breast cancer to being a pet lover. What I like most about the whole series is that you can read them for just a few minutes at a time when you have a chance. Essays range from about 1-6 pages long.
On a whim the other day I picked up “Chicken Soup for the Working Mom’s Soul.” It seemed a pertinent read given that I have been a working mother since the day my first daughter was born.
At first I loved the book. Some of the essays were about work at home moms, which totally applied to me. I was literally laughing out loud at some of the things that I was written. Then the book took a turn that confused me a little bit. One of the chapters was about how being a mother is a job. Without getting into that argument, it was odd to appear in the book because the essays were about women who quit their jobs to stay at home with their kids. Maybe they wanted to be sure that within the title “Working Moms” they included those whose job is being a mother? I’m not sure.
Then I got to an essay that really hit home for me. It started like this: “When I tell another mother that I work from home and she says, ’Oh, that must be the ideal situation,’ I know one thing about her, even if we’ve never met before. She does not now, nor has she ever, worked from home.” I’ve met that woman 50 times, I think, and she has always made the same comment!
The book got back on track for me and I found myself really happy to be reading about moms who I could completely identify with. These were the moms who do the same balancing and juggling that I do on a daily basis. Probably the same moms who are happy to pick up a book that they can read for 5 minutes at a time and enjoy!
You should be able to pick up “Chicken Soup for the Working Mom’s Soul” (by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Patty Aubery) at any bookstore, including Borders, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.
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