It's Not the Glass Ceiling, It's the Sticky Floor : And Other Things Our Daughters Should Know about Marriage, Work, and Motherhood

"...parenting literature doesn't prepare us for what is supposed to happen and what ultimately does occur when it comes to kids, spouses, homes, pets, or just about anything else on which mothers rivet their attention." - Karen Engberg

Liberation blasted open the doors of business to women, but failed to answer one unavoidable question--who is left to take care of the children and attend to the minutiae of daily home life while the husband is also at work? The essentials of cooking, cleaning, and caring for the children are not "small stuff" and seem to require a Ph.D. in life lessons to be handled properly.

Putting family first in an ambitious, career-minded society can be a very difficult, and even passÄ, decision. Young women contemplating marriage, motherhood, and work need a helpful guide to understanding and meeting the challenges of work and family. Even those who have sacrificed career dreams in the face of motherhood need to be reassured.

Originally written as a guide to her daughters, It's Not the Glass Ceiling, It's the Sticky Floor is Karen Engberg's answer to the great questions created by liberation. This is an urgent call for women to negotiate equality in the home and for men to understand that motherhood and "housework" are just as important as breadwinning. "The ability to spot-treat stains, remember who doesn't like brownies with nuts, memorize the baby-sitter's number, and remember that toilet paper is needed even when it's not on the grocery list, involves talents residing in the twilight zone of human accomplishments. These skills do nothing for a rÄsumÄ but are essential to civilized survival. Then your husband comes home from work and wonders what you've been doing all day." Welcome to the motherly vocation of what Engberg labels the "Small Stuff Technician."

In pithy and hard-hitting chapters, using hilarious and hair-raising personal experiences, Engberg challenges the studies and assertions of "experts" who fail to address family issues in realistic, or realizable, terms. She offers fresh points of view and advice for women on youthful decision-making, motherhood, what to expect from husbands and fathers, domestic duties, parenting, handling teenagers, finance, and much more.

Book Binding: Cloth
Pages: 203

ISBN: 1-57392-745-7
Shipping Weight: 1lbs

Author Bio:

Karen Engberg, M.D., a physician whose practice focuses on women and children, writes a weekly parenting column for the Santa Barbara News-Press, a monthly child health column for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and occasional medical commentary for the Los Angeles Times.