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Indeed, staying at home and raising, nurturing, loving, being available to guide and correct is the greatest gift and career a woman may have. I have had the privilege of being home since the birth of our child, now a teen and see the contrast with peers whose parents dropped them at day care centers and after school programs. Why, there is no agonizing over children over careers! The accountability of parenthood is heavy, but more is the love factor; how can we be so deluted to think we have to have two incomes. When mothers are on their own, that's another story and we as a society need to find them in our communities and offer to them whatever is needed to bring them and their children together.

My brother-in-law had his office at home for four years. One day he came to my sister and said "Your job is a lot harder than mine is." He could shut the door and not be interrupted by the kids, which was fine while he was working. But my sister ran (and still runs) a great household while even being able to go to the bathroom by herself. She locks the door, and says the kids fingers are still under the door and they are crying "Mom!" the whole time.

And one of my brothers didn't marry until he was 34. He and his wife moved to California for a job and had two children. They were the only couple in their subdivision with children under 10! Everyone else had dogs. I was visiting them a couple of years ago. We went to pick him up from work, and his then three year old ran towards him with his arms outstretched crying "Daddy, Daddy!" My brother picked him and gave him a big hug, and then said to me "Dogs don't do this." He absolutely loves being a father.