Readers, I've possibly done a very evil thing to the world of mothers. After so many critiques, in my book and here on this blog, of New York Magazine for its horrific accounts of the mothering life, I spoke with a reporter working on a story on moms and nannies for that very same magazine. I even mentioned these sentiments to the reporter, whose response was, "So you're familiar with the magazine...." She then promised me that THIS article would be different.
Now, I don't know that the article will actually run. The reporter's final words were, "you'll be hearing from our fact checkers"....which, of course, I haven't. Now, just in case it comes out and my words have been tangled against my will into weapons against mothers, know that I did say things like "mothers who work shouldn't be or feel judged, working is a good thing" and I did say that families who employ nannies should feel very lucky, that only around 5% of families in the US can afford this kind of personal, home-based care for their kids. As much as I know what this kind of media does, it's still so tempting as a writer to believe that my thoughts are so crystal clear and inviolate that they can only ever mean what I mean them to mean, that contributing and saying smart things might do the world of parenting some good, and that my insights will pass an editorial attempt to turn them into trash. Perhaps we're all so craven for media mentions that we'll do just about anything. Anyway, let's cross our fingers and just hope this one turns out okay. And I'll let you know if I ever hear from that factchecker!
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