Judgments
As women in a highly competitive school environment leading to an even more high pressure career, we have to learn how to take shit, be it from clients, bosses or colleagues. One of the reasons I started blogging was to network with other future attorneys, both female and male, who could envision a more ethical, collegial world where we share resources and help each other. I have benifitted immensely from my network of contacts and hope to help others in similar ways. I feel like, especially as women, we need to support each other against this good ol’ boys network.
That is why it was particularly disappointing to read another MILS today support my view about how we need to be honest and open and help each other and then turn around and call one of the MILS a selfish mother — basically a bad parent — for allowing multiple babysitters to watch her baby so she could attend class. Haven’t we all done that? I know I have and I’m probably the worst offender — working full-time AND using evening sitters? I never see my kid! Then she pretty much called me out directly for having a nanny “raise” my child and drive him to school.
Regardless, she throws up a desire for “blogger honesty” as the motivation for stating that mothers who use babysitters are allowing others to raise their kids. This is a tired argument that just doesn’t hold water. It takes a village to raise a child. As much as my child might love to spend every minute with me, he is enriched much more by his interactions with the diverse people who care for him each day, from his Indian Montessori teacher to his Mexican nanny to his Texan grandmother and his British grandfather. Let’s not forget the gay couple at church who babysit in a pinch or the blind elderly woman who lets him read her stories while I study during the post-service coffee hour. It takes a village and I would be a selfish mother only if I were to deprive him of those experiences.








