It never ceases to amaze me how different American views on work and parenting are from the rest of the world. Even Canada, barely a line in the sand away, has

It never ceases to amaze me how different American views on work and parenting are from the rest of the world. Even Canada, barely a line in the sand away, has a completely different cultural attitude on this topic than the US. In most of the world, parenting is viewed as an important, demanding job. Motherhood - given the physical and mental demands not shared by the father - even more so. In the US it seems to be an inconvenience to everyone involved. From a general point of view, I think it's Ms. Mayer's right (along with any other parent) to determine the lifestyle they think is most appropriate for themselves and their family. Personally though, I think this is a horrible life choice that shouldn't be culturally supported. A child is not an acquisition that will accompany your life; rather a child is a commitment to you changing into a new life. It would be the same as deciding to move to a farm in Brazil. The expectation that you can move to a farm in Brazil and still be an effective farmer as well as a CEO (or whatever your current position is) would be laughed at as being hopelessly naive. It would also be taken as a given that your farm would probably suffer, unless you pretty much outsourced its operations completely. Alas, that's probably what will happen in the case of junior Mayer - assuming hubby continues to work as well, which admittedly is a large assumption. As a society, we should discourage parenting at arms length, in the same way that we should discourage those not committed to child rearing from having kids in the first place. It's a shame that one has to bring another human into this world that will immediately be disconnected from their parents in a way that others aren't. I think it puts us all at a tremendous disadvantage not to create this strong bonds.