Three-Ring Circus: How Real Couples Balance Marriage, Work, and Family

by Dawn Comer Jefferson (Editor), James P. Comer (Foreword), Rosanne Welch

Today’s parents are supposed to enjoy the “freedom” to have it all—high-powered careers, passionate partnerships, and brilliant, well-mannered children. That’s the spin, at least, from those who have never tried to balance the needs of bosses, spouses, and those demanding little people. Unlike guidebooks or workbooks that simply replace stress with guilt, or that offer tips most parents don’t find applicable, Three-Ring Circus offers a variety of real situations and honest stories. Parents will find comfort—and genuine solutions—in this frank collection of first-person accounts that includes married paramedics who work tag-team shifts to care for their four children, confessions of a working mom who finds the challenges of her career infinitely easier than appeasing two kids home sick from daycare, and a dad who shaped his journalism career around his children’s lives and wouldn’t have it any other way. In all, thirty moms and dads weigh in on making it all work—and knowing what to let go in the name of sanity.

288 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2004

Reviews

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

EXCELLENT! Some weaker ones, but several really helpful ones, including my favorite Love in the Time of Toddlers

[Yuliana]

Should have read since one of my essays appears in it.

[Safa Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mothers and fathers' personal essays about balancing the roles of parent, spouse and employee. All of the essays are from a middle class perspective.