Linda Weber delivers an interesting book on how important motherhood is. I thought that she had the right idea of how much having an attached child depends on his/her relationship with his mother. While I enjoyed the book, there were a few things that I wasn’t thrilled with.

1. I thought that all the examples were extreme. While yes, there are situations where your children drown and you must choose between them, most mothers will not walk that particular road. I found many examples to simply not be relatable.
2. Do children write that many letters? I’ve never written a letter to my mother. It just isn’t in our relationship. But there were so many examples of this. Seemed a little odd to me. But hey, maybe that’s just my experience.
3. I was extremely disappointed about Weber’s approach to working mothers. Approximately 65% of women with children under 6 work outside the home. For many of these women (myself included) working is a necessity for our family at this time. I found Weber’s remarks to be extremely offensive. Her chapter specifically for working moms felt like a giant guilt trip. Yes, mothers who work are more likely to have children with attachment disorders. But, not every child of a working mother has an attachment disorder. (My son for example.) If you have no choice except to work, it can be demoralizing to be told all the statistics about how your work is ruining your child’s life. Not having food or a home also has a negative impact on a child’s life. All the examples given in the book were of women who had given up their careers and suddenly found that life was wonderful. Kudos to them. Not all of us can afford that. And the sole advice for women who must work was not put work ahead family with no thoughts or advice on how to do that. I found it offensive and unhelpful to say the least.

Overall, I thought the book had some good, but needs a little help as it relates to working moms.