By Eva Trieger
SAN DIEGO — Ever hear someone say that they wish the job of parenting came with a manual? Well, Michelle Cove, author and filmmaker has taken that one step further. Her 252-page manifesto contains a collection of concrete suggestions, words of wisdom, and encouragement for today’s working mother.
Cove divides her book, I Love Mondays, into a series of chapters that will be quite familiar to women who are wearing the dual hats of raising children and bringing home the (kosher soy) bacon. She explores the 80s notion that women “can have it all”, and reveals that with good planning and support, it is no myth.
Citing a host of professionals, as well as, the mom next door, Cove delivers solid advice, empathy and clever suggestions, not only about balancing your family’s needs, but quelling your own guilt and overwhelm.
Every working mother will relate to the scenario of missing the school play, trying to conduct a conference call with toddlers warring in the background, or arriving to a meeting with a pacifier in her pocket. Cove shares her own anecdotes as well as those of friends, mentors, and coworkers.
Urging working women to build a network of professional friends, she provides valuable tips on how women can successfully work from home, travel for business, contribute cookies for the elementary school bake sale, and remain connected to their spouses and children.
Each chapter concludes with bullet points of the ideas presented and the book can be read in snippets, as that’s all the time most working women have to spare. Michelle Cove has done a great deal of homework for her handbook, quoting psychologists, TV personalities, publications and medical doctors.
Cove’s book reminds us that while some mothers must work to provide for their families, others opt to work as it feeds their sense of self and allows them to have an identity as an individual. She encourages us to shed the guilt and celebrate our curiosity or passions within our families and beyond our maternal roles.
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Trieger is a freelance writer based in San Diego. She may be contacted at eva.trieger@sdjewishworld.com