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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview With Tanya Williams, Monica Johnson, Temma Collins, Carol Evans

Aired July 20, 2002 - 07:37   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: There's long been a debate about whether children are effected by mom's who hold down jobs outside the home. Now a new child care study says a child's intellectual development can be hampered when the mother works early on. The study found that when mothers work more than 30 hours a week, by the time the children were nine months old, those children, on average, did not do as well on school readiness tests by the age of 3.

This morning, we're going to talk to some mothers who are on kind of both sides of this story.

From West Babylon, New York, Tanya Williams, a pediatrician currently a stay-at-home mom.

From Atlanta, Monica Johnson, a working mother.

From Cleveland, Ohio, former business owner turned stay-at-home mom, Temma Collins.

And, Carol Evans with "Working Mother" magazine, joining us from New York. We've got a big panel here, so let's get right to it. Monica, I want to start with you. When you heard that study, were you wracked with guilt?

MONICA JOHNSON, WORKING MOM: No, I was not, because what I had to do was look at my family. I have a 7-year-old and a 3-year-old. My 7-year-old, after the test issues in the first grade, and scored very highly on her ITS score. Also, she scored very highly in reading; she's on a third grade reading level. One thing that my husband and I do, we make sure, because of a working parent, that we take time with our children and that we work with them. So there's a compromise but yet I don't think my children are intellectually stumped by us working.

O'BRIEN: So do you think the study is a bunch of baloney?

JOHNSON: I think that there's more that you have to look into than just the working parent; you have to look at the environment that the child is in.

O'BRIEN: Tanya, let me talk to you for a moment. You're a pediatrician. Should know a little something about children. And, you've also made the decision to stay at home. Should we infer that you know something that maybe some of us don't know?

TANYA WILLIAMS, NON-PRACTICING PEDIATRICIAN: No, I think like Monica was saying, you have to look at your family. And, for me that was the best choice and the best decision at the time. I had a long string of trouble with baby sitters in the past, and felt that I was better able to take on the job myself because being at home doesn't mean you're not working, it's just you're working with the children. And, for some women, they have no other support -- for other women, they may have additional support. I chose to do this on my own and for all the right reasons because I wanted to make sure that I'm doing the best for my family.

O'BRIEN: Well, do you think you're children are -- are your children better off for it?

WILLIAMS: I think they are, yes. My family was going through turmoil. With me working, and my husband working full-time. And, our full-time jobs, like many people, were not just nine to five; we're talking about, usually, 12 hours a day, sometimes 14 hours a day. So, that's very challenging for any family. And, when you have two families out, it's very difficult.

O'BRIEN: All right. Temma, let's talk to you for a moment.

TEMMA COLLINS, STAY-AT-HOME MOM: OK.

O'BRIEN: What Tanya implies is that by being at home, her children are better off. So the converse of that is if she was working, they would be worse off. Is that -- was that your decision, when you decided to stay at home?

COLLINS: You know, we also had a big child care crisis and dilemma, and I just really wanted to be intimately connected to my kids lives, to their school. And I think that it can work, really, both ways. I just think that for working mothers, it is much harder on a day-to-day basis. Just to be connected with your children's school and with your children's teachers. I think it can be done. For me, personally, I have three children and being in their lives that way just was very important to me. And, I just wanted to make it work and give it a go. And, I've been very happy with it.

O'BRIEN: Carol, let's talk about the guilt trip that this might lay on a lot of working mothers. A lot of people just don't have the choice in the matter. They have to work. And, when studies like this come out, it leads them to the question what am I supposed to do? What are we supposed to do about this?

CAROL EVANS, WORKING MOTHER MAGAZINE: Well, I think that we have to do something dramatic. I think mothers need to demand better child care, first of all. Longer maternity leaves. And more flexibility and phase back. If this study holds up under scrutiny, it's a very important study.

And, mothers need to ask their companies as well as the government to give them much more support. Of all the industrialized nations, we have the lowest level of maternity leave and no mandated paid maternity leave from the government at all. We need to ask for more, and we need to check out things like our study. Every October we do a study of the best companies for working mothers and there are companies that are doing tremendous things to help working mothers. IBM and AFLAC provide very expensive maternity leaves and allow tremendous flexibility coming back into the work force. Mothers, working mothers, need to look at these companies and look at their own companies, and ask for more help.

O'BRIEN: Monica, lets ask the question about your company. And, you don't have to name your company. We won't get into that if you don't want to, but do you feel as if your company is understanding about this; could it be more understanding?

JOHNSON: I think my company is very understanding; it's a very family-oriented company. I'm allowed to take off time with my children. I was co-room parent of my daughter's class, room parent of my son's class so you...

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: Was it hard to do all that, and continue your job?

JOHNSON: No, no actually it was very exciting. I really love what I do; my employers love me, they know that my family comes first and I do an excellent job for them. So, I never had a problem leaving work, going to the school, coming back. I'm very -- I was very visible at the school, the teachers know me, the principal knows me. We just didn't have that problem.

Child care providers -- before they went to school -- our child care provider was like an extended family and I think mothers have to look for that and if you have a conflict with a child care provider, then that's when you have to -- you know, if you need to bring your child home, then you have to bring them home. But, we were very fortunate that all of our child care providers were like extended family so we felt very comfortable leaving them with their providers.

O'BRIEN: Yeah, Tanya, as I listen to Monica I get the sense that she is -- she's really got it made. She's kind of a -- well, she's Super Mom. She is Super Mom. Congratulations, Monica. You're pulling it all off and a lot of us are wondering how you do it. I suppose -- would you be willing to guess, Tanya, whether that is the rule or the exception out there?

WILLIAMS: I think that is the rule. Moms have been multi- tasking from the dawn of age. And, I think because mothers feel like they are the ones that are in control of more of the family situation, the kids, the husband's schedule, traveling, everything -- moms are able to, I think, better juggle a lot more. And, when it's important, you go to your boss, you go to supervisors and say, listen, this is very important for me.

Now, some people, unlike Monica, will get a negative reaction from supervisors or bosses. And they aren't given that ability to go off to different activities at school or participate at that level. I think for Monica, she's doing a great job and speaking up when she needs to because these are her kids. What about the other families, though?

What about the ones that don't have that ability to do that? And, that's what I'm more concerned about, at times, especially when I think about all of the families I've worked with in a professional setting. A lot of these moms were forced to be at jobs and didn't really have that ability to go off-site at times, and that's what starts to worry me. Because moms then do feel like I don't really have a choice. And am I doing the wrong thing by being at work.

O'BRIEN: Temma, was it a hard decision for you? Is it a dilemma you still sort of live with, the things you miss about being in the business world, or is it just one of those things, no regrets.

COLLINS: No, absolutely. I mean there are times, definitely, when I'm home with my kids that I wish I was getting out and -- you know, you go from being professional to being a juice-getter...

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: To dirty diapers, it just doesn't get it...

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: ...and butt-wiper. You know, it's not all of everything. But I do feel like this is time that I'm not going to get back and I have the rest of my life to work, and I will -- and I know I'm going to take a professional hit for this. But, that's the choice that I made.

O'BRIEN: Carol, what is it about Western Europe -- they have this figured out. They allow moms, parents, a lot more time with their children. Why haven't we figured this out in this country, is it some sort of misguided Puritanical work ethic that we're still saddled with here?

EVANS: Well, we do have a very strong work ethic. And, I'm not sure why Western Europe has gotten ahead of us on this, but they have been ahead of us the whole time. Of course, we are a country of working mothers, 26 million working mothers, today. And, it's a huge proportion of the population and it's a huge proportion of the working population.

Why has Western Europe gotten ahead? Good question. Let's catch up. Let's just focus on the future and get our companies and our government to get behind this issue and support the working mothers of America.

O'BRIEN: And while we're at it let's just take August off like they do, too. What the heck, right?

EVANS: Hey, I love that idea. I want to go to France.

O'BRIEN: Carol Evans, Tanya Williams, Temma Collins, and our Super Mom, Monica Johnson. Thank you all for being with us, we enjoyed the discussion.

Good luck with the children.

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