The Sunnyvale Sun

Letters & Opinions

Balancing babies against a public career

By Carol Bogart

It causes quite a stir, doesn't it, when city council member Melinda Hamilton has a baby? Her detractors want her to step down for the sake of the city. Some who are in her corner think she should quit for the sake of her kids.

Hamilton dropped by to see me a month or so ago, pregnant with child No. 2 and toddler son in tow.

She seems to be a nice, well-intentioned woman.

Most know she sued the city to halt downtown development she didn't like. She told me she was born and raised in Sunnyvale; in fact, has lived here her entire life.

Then she ran against and beat the incumbent. Not too long after she took office, she had a baby and went on maternity leave, depriving her constituents of having her voice heard as council grappled with such thorny issues as the malingering mall.

As a woman and a working mother, I have mixed feelings about the issue.

Not quite 21 years ago, I faced the same conundrum Hamilton faces now. She answers to voters--her employer. I answered to an employer, too. The corporation for which I worked allowed new mothers 30 days' paid maternity leave. As my leave drew to a close, I learned how hard it is to find competent childcare for a newborn. Few sitters want an infant's round-the-clock demands.

Early on--as I worried about my baby when I was at work and my job when I was at home--I knew I couldn't do both jobs well. Although I tried, both suffered.

Journalism is, to me, a calling. I believe reporters are the truth-bringers when the public has the right to know.

I also believe my son is a sacred trust and that my responsibility to him trumps all others.

So, when my parents died and left me a little money, I quit to be a full-time mom to Michael, then age 3. Professionally, I was at the top of my game. I left the TV news business just as I'd been nominated for an Emmy in investigative reporting.

From a career point of view, the decision was not without cost.

A five-year sabbatical from a youth-oriented business might as well be 500 when you're not quite 40. Although I had a shot at getting back in when Mike was 9, it took only a single overnight hostage situation for me to realize it was too soon. He was too young for his mom's life to be dominated by a beeper.

So, we moved to the farm where life was less expensive.

For a year or so I did freelance writing at home and was a stringer for the small-town daily and the Associated Press.

By the time Mike was 11, I was facing the reality that I could no longer afford to pay $750 a month for health insurance. Luckily, the paper gave me a choice of two full-time positions. The reporting position required attending night meetings. The other, lifestyle editor, offered "family-friendly" hours.

For the next five years, I was usually home when Mike got home from school. When he was too young to drive, I ferried him back and forth to after-school practices and events. He played various sports and was percussion section leader in the marching band. When he looked up from the field or he scored a goal in hockey, he could see me cheering in the stands. To make sure I was in the loop at school, I served on the parent advisory committee, belonged to music boosters and helped out at the concession stands.

I can understand why people resist seeing the hometown where they grew up turn into a place they no longer recognize. There is comfort in the familiar and a sense of secure continuity we want to share with our children if we can. I was glad Mike had a chance to know the joys of rural living I'd known as a child.

As a public person, though--whether you're a reporter or you're a politician--you have to think about the greater good. It's just not possible to spread yourself too thin and be effective. For me, the decision--keep working and sock my inheritance away for my retirement or spend it raising Mike--was an easy one to make.

Hamilton has a responsibility to those who elected her and to her children. She needs to decide where her priorities lie.

Carol Bogart is the editor of the Sun. Contact her at cbogart@community-newspapers.com or call 408.200.1055.