The Working Mother's Guide to Life : Strategies, Secrets, and Solutions

After you’ve made the decision to return to work following the birth of a child, you may still wonder, “Am I doing the right thing for my family?” and “How on earth do I make this work?” Now, The Working Mother’s Guide to Life sets out to offer you hundreds of answers to these types of questions, from nuts-and-bolts advice, such as finding top-notch child care and stress-free ways to manage your household, to more complex issues like separating from your child without feeling guilty and creating a rich, strong family culture that will thrive regardless of whether or not you are working.

Author Linda Mason—herself a working mom and founder of an award-winning company that cares for the children of working parents across the country—provides a reassuring, practical, and comprehensive guide based on interviews with more than 100 successful working mothers from diverse backgrounds. Here are countless strategies and tips from these experts on everything from household chores and returning to work with a newborn to finding communities of support.

• Building the Three Pillars of Success: A supportive workplace, a “partner-in-parenting,” and excellent child care
• Running a household, holding down a job, and thriving while keeping
it all together—from getting food on the table to getting out the door in the morning
• Setting your priorities, including nurturing your family, satisfying your employer,
and taking care of your own needs
• Tips from caregivers on how to help your
children blossom and grow in a variety of child care settings

LINDA MASON, cited by Working Mother magazine as one of its “25 Most Influential Working Mothers in America,” is chairman and cofounder of Bright Horizons Family Solutions, the world’s largest provider of employer-based workplace child care and early education. She lives in the Boston area with her husband and three children.