Recently, the New York Times ran an article entitled “Nurturing a Baby and a Start-Up Business.”  The article was about women who started high-tech companies while having young children.  The article went on to feature 3 women who started successful online/high-tech companies while pregnant and/or while having small children.

 

Hey, I think that’s great.

 

But then came the fine print: the women featured “all have husbands with high-powered jobs, so there are no stay-at-home fathers to take charge of their households. On the other hand, financial resources for child care are ample.”(emphasis added)

 

Well, look, I don’t want to take away from what these women have accomplished.  Starting a business, no matter who you are and no matter your resources, is a difficult thing. So kudos to these ladies for building successful businesses.

 

On the other hand, I wish the article had been about women who nurtured a baby and a start-up business without having a rich husband and a nanny or nannies.

 

Take my wife, for example.  We’re not rich.  Far from it.  We’re living paycheck to paycheck.  My wife is a freelancer, and so am I, so we receive no employer-provided benefits.  We both make much less than we used to make as full-time employees.

 

In addition, after being laid off as a lawyer, I am trying to launch a successful career as a comic.  Things are going well, but I’m only able to do that because of the support from my wife.  If and when I hit it big, she will be as responsible for that success as my own efforts.

 

And, then, too, we launched together a stuffed animal business called Pigamoose (http://pigamoose.com).  Progress is slow, but we’ve received good reviews.

 

Meantime, our son, Ivan, is 9-months old, healthy as a horse and thriving.  And, let me tell you who’s responsible for that.  It sure ain’t a nanny.  It’s my wife.

 

So, here’s to someone who nurtures a baby, a family, a husband’s career, and a start-up business without the luxuries of wealth and ’round the clock child-care personnel My wife (and the countless number of women like her):