Success?

Sarah over at Misadventures asks, "'How do we define success as women?' Is a female CEO more successful than a proud mother of seven children?"

Obviously, you can’t define success for all women because success depends on each individual’s own goals in life. For some, it’s running a successful company. For others, it’s raising respectful, well-behaved children. Both are admirable, but in entirely different ways.

I see so many women trying to balance a full-time career with their young children. I don’t think it’s a challenge; I think it’s just about impossible. Something is bound to be neglected in that scenario and, unfortunately, it’s almost always the children.

I’ve seen so many women have a baby, then send him or her to daycare weeks later so Mommy can go back to work. Many of those women have told me that they simply cannot afford not to go back to work. But then I look at their lives: a home filled with expensive things, a driveway with a new car every few years, expensive vacations, dining out frequently, manicures and pedicures, etc.

Many of these women believe they have it all – the husband, the kids, the job, the home, etc. It doesn’t matter if their husbands are lousy partners and they are completely unfulfilled in their marriages. At least they’re not single and alone. So what if the daycare provider spends more time with their children than they do. They’ve got the nicest house on the block. They don’t have to be frugal or sacrifice anything to stay home and raise their children. They can furnish the kids’ bedrooms with TVs, DVD players and all the latest video games.

As I said, success depends on the goals each woman sets for her own life. But, honestly, what goals are being met here?