By Grace Austin

Book

Mastering the Mommy Track

The issue is constantly being debated among moms: Do you stay at home to raise your children and take care of the home, or do you go back to work to provide for your family? Or do you attempt to do both? In this modern age, most mothers attempt to do both, often due to various reasons from a desire to stay in the workforce to the needed funds from dual incomes. Often, though, there are issues, and there is little advice to help these mothers trying to make their situations work.

Despite its rather cartoonish cover, Mastering the Mommy Track draws in the reader with expert guidance and personal feedback from the author, offering a how-to guide for the working mother. And despite its slim size, Mastering the Mommy Track is well researched.

Although some of the material may seem obvious (refrain from using drugs and alcohol to cope with stress), Jay covers everything that affects the working mom: romance, childcare, finances, mental health, and more. She couples this with advice from doctors and working moms who have done it before, including anecdotal advice and her own personal experiences.

Mastering the Mommy Track is a helpful book for anyone from moms with newborns to women raising teenagers. Most of the advice could also be helpful for working single women and even working dads, who now often share the same roles as women do, as both caregivers and breadwinners.