Thinkingmama

Talk about workplace stress. OK, so there’s probably more to this story than the guy simply dropping dead from working too much. (He was a 45-year-old Toyota engineer who supposedly died from working extremely long hours trying to perfect the Camry hybrid.) I’ve read and heard lots of cruel jokes about this story, unfortunately. But [...]

A recent New York Times column by Joe Nocera was interesting to me for two reasons:
1. I’m a new parent, and daycare issues are always on my mind, even though we are lucky to currently have family taking care of our child.
2. Having worked with Silicon Valley tech news for about a decade, I’ve read [...]

I haven’t had much to say in this space lately. The reason? I’m busy blogging elsewhere. I’m filling in for a colleague at work whose main job is to blog on Good Morning Silicon Valley, a tech blog. So that’s what I’m doing for the next two weeks, along with my regular job. [...]

It was hard to stop reading this, a very public display of resentment from the daughter of Alice Walker (”The Color Purple” about how she grew up having a famous mom who apparently didn’t care much about being a mother.
Among other things, Rebecca Walker says: “You see, my mum taught me that children enslave women. [...]

I’m sure many mothers feel like a one-member SWAT team at times, but in this case, SWAT stands for “smart women with available time.” A Wall Street Journal article talks about stay-at-home moms who are basically on-call professionals. These former high-powered women — executives, stockbrokers, lawyers, doctors — are called in to complete special projects. [...]

This post from The Juggle (about a Wall Street Journal story on doctors rebelling against the notion that they should be available to their patients 24/7) makes me wonder: Has there really been a shift toward work-life balance? The story says there is a trend among young doctors who want to put their families first. [...]

An article in the Washington Post explores changes proposed for the Family and Medical Leave Act, which celebrates its 15th anniversary this year. The law protects the jobs of workers who take unpaid time off to care for a baby or sick relative.
The changes being weighed by the Labor Department seem stringent and cumbersome, but [...]

I can see this going all kinds of ways. A recent study has found a correlation between a woman’s diet and the gender of her baby. (I’ve heard of this before, somewhere. I read and watch so many things I can never remember where.) Anyway, this is supposed to be new research that just confirms [...]

No, I’m not getting divorced. But a front-page article on today’s Wall Street Journal about men who receive alimony wanting respect caught my eye. Some of the men complained about being called deadbeats. A couple of the men said they felt entitled to the monthly checks from their ex-wives because they put their careers [...]

…it’s so hard to resist my obsession with food. And especially, my love of baked goods. I really must wonder how other stay-at-home moms stay fit. Any tips? (This is a totally frivolous and mindless post, but hey, one can’t be serious and newsworthy all the time. I mean, I need something to take my [...]