Hubby just shot me an e-mail to tell me that John Podhoretz wrote an editorial on the new Judith Warner book.

I only have a minute to write, because, well, I’m too busy parenting today. My son, who turns three in April, did not go down for an afternoon nap today. I just spent an hour driving through scenic Bergen County with the hopes of luring him to sleep. I watched him in the rear view mirror, and his eyes never closed. So, the video went in, and I ran up to the office to catch up with the world before the credits roll on Thomas the Tank Engine.

So, I have a few minutes to respond to the recent reviews of the Warner book.

Warner argues that mothers are overwhelmed running from activity to activity, developing their children’s brain power, and pushing their kid’s on the ballfields. These SUV moms are hysterically creating the best children and driving themselves batty in the process.

I’m not sure who these women are. I have not met them. Sure, we’re all a little wacky when the first one arrives, but almost everyone comes to their senses after a month or two.

Many SAHM mothers schedule a lot of events for their kids, but it is a way for the mothers to socialize and get out of the house. Or it enables them to run off to food shop without tots for an hour.

The supermommy notion is a media myth.

Most women, especially those who work, are struggling to be adequate mothers. Ones who read a book to their kids at the end of the day, who make meals that involve vegetables, who put their kids to bed by 8:00. Veggies and a sensible bedtime are the basics. And many women can’t manage that anymore. It’s not single, poor moms who made some unfortunate choices, but average middle class women who can’t survive on one income anymore.

Mothers at home also face all new pressures. They are more isolated than every before. And their husbands work later and later hours. They are ridiculed by their working friends, who warn them about the financial risks they incur by staying at home. Our mothers never dealt with these challenges.

Yes, parenting has many rewards. The sticky kisses and all. However, mothers (and their kids) do need help, because the costs are outweighing the rewards.

Now, you have to excuse me. That familiar Thomas song has ended, and I have to return to work.

UPDATE: Though I disagree with Podhoretz about some things, he makes some good points in his article. Liked this: Those of us who have young children were all raised to be self-actualizing, self-possessed, self-supporting. It’s safe to say we think more, and more deeply, about ourselves and our own needs than any other people at any other time in the history of the world. But at 3:30 in the morning, a crying baby or a sick child doesn’t care about your needs. She needs you. You have to put somebody else first.

For some of us, being a parent is a liberation from the tyranny of the self. Others seem to cling to the shackles of their solipsism. Tragically, they have been unable to wrest free from a worldview more suitable to childhood, and therefore sadly denied themselves the particular satisfactions that come from embracing adulthood in all its glorious mundanity.