I didn't get the impression that the parent post was stating that a women has to choose between motherhood and work. If I had to paraphrase the post, it would

I didn't get the impression that the parent post was stating that a women has to choose between motherhood and work. If I had to paraphrase the post, it would be "I don't think she realizes how hard it's going to be." Which is true, simply because NO PARENT, male or female, can truly internalize how hard parenting is until they're a parent. I was warned plenty of times and I still wasn't prepared--not by a long shot. However, I can understand why people get defensive over this issue. When I took six months off to take care of my daughter (while my wife worked) I came to realize that: a) You can get pretty self-conscious at times, especially when you see examples of people parenting better than you are. b) Parenting can take up an INFINITE amount of your time and energy, if you let it. Children evolved to maximize their chance of thriving, and that pretty much means they will demand as much as you can give, and more, and then even more. It's just how children are. But that means that there's always some good bit of parenting that you potentially could do, but can't: either because there's no money, or because you're too tired, or because you have to work. So, in essence, mothers do choose between parenting and work, but they also choose between parenting and sleeping, and parenting and eating, and parenting and reading, and parenting and socializing. Heck, many times I had to choose between parenting and showering. However, while I felt guilty about my shower, I think that in the long term the kids will turn out OK. <g>