Dear Gwyneth, I really enjoyed your recent comments to E! about how easy an office job is for parents, compared to the grueling circumstances of being on a movie set. “I think it’s different when you have an office job, because it’s routine and, you know, you can do all the stuff in the morning and then you come home in the evening,” you said. “When you’re shooting a movie, they’re like, ‘We need you to go to Wisconsin for two weeks,’ and then you work 14 hours a day, and that part of it is very difficult. I think to have a regular job and be a mom is not as, of course there are challenges, but it’s not like being on set.” As a mother of a toddler, I couldn’t agree more! “Thank God I don’t make millions filming one movie per year” is what I say to myself pretty much every morning as I wait on a windy Metro-North platform, about to begin my 45-minute commute into the city. Whenever things get rough, all I have to do is keep reminding myself of that fact. It is my mantra. And I know all my fellow working-mom friends feel the same. Am I right, ladies? We’re always gabbing about how easy it is to balance work and home life. Whenever I meet with them at one of our weekly get-togethers — a breeze to schedule, because reliable baby sitters often roam my neighborhood in packs, holding up signs peddling their services — we have a competition to see who has it easier. Is it the female breadwinners who work around the clock to make sure their mortgages get paid, lying awake at night, wracked with anxiety over the idea of losing their jobs? Or is it the mothers who get mommy-tracked and denied promotions? What about the moms with “regular” 9-to-5 jobs, who are penalized when their kids are sick and they don’t have backup child care? Those women are living the dream, I tell you! Which reminds me, child care. As you know, Gwynnie, having a staff can be a real drag. It’s so hard to find good help these days! That’s why it’s a good thing there’s all this nationally subsidized, high-quality day care lying around for the taking. It just makes things easier knowing you have such a strong support network and don’t have to pay someone anywhere from $30K to $65K annually to take care of your child full-time. You mentioned in your E! interview that when someone has an office job, “You know you can do all the stuff in the morning,” and that hit the nail on the head. As someone with an office job, my mornings are obviously pretty leisurely. Sometimes I even have time to drink half of my coffee before it gets cold! After my 6 a.m. wake-up, I have a lot of time to loll around, hopping in the shower and then throwing makeup on my face, hoping that I’ll have enough time to put my tights on before my son starts crying in his crib. Then, when he does start crying, I have to make the decision: Do I get fully dressed, or do I go tend to him with my hair still dripping wet? Talk about being spoilt for choice! Then I have a few Bellinis and adjust my 401(k) contributions. After I get home from work, I’m full of energy and ready to cook dinner using one of the recipes you post on your lifestyle Web site, Goop: slow-cooked kale, pancetta and bread crumbs, anyone? After that, I’ll go to yoga, spend a few hours meditating and maybe do some online shopping, picking up a pair of $350 white leopard-printed short-shorts via Goop in preparation for the “spring break” I’ll take with my husband and son. If there’s one thing I look good in after having a child, it’s short-shorts. So, Gwyneth, you’ve figured out the secret of working parents everywhere: Livin’ la vida desk job is a breeze compared to the 14-hour days of a film set. Fourteen hours? Who in New York — especially those in the finance, law and tech professions — could possibly work 14 whole hours? Luckily, those 9-to-5 “ordinary job” hours grow on trees here. And if you lose one, all you have to do is find another. Yours, Mackenzie |
《紐約郵報(bào)》3月27日刊登了一位上班族媽咪給格溫妮絲的公開(kāi)信。 親愛(ài)的格溫妮絲: 我真的好喜歡你最近在E!電視節(jié)目上說(shuō)的話。你說(shuō)和從事電影業(yè)人那種筋疲力盡的窘境相比,有一份辦公室工作的父母真是太幸福了?!拔艺J(rèn)為從事辦公室工作很不一樣,因?yàn)檫@種工作的工作時(shí)間是比較固定的,白天做完所有事情,然后晚上回家。”你說(shuō)道,“拍電影時(shí)的感覺(jué)就好像是要去威斯康辛州待兩周一樣,每天工作14小時(shí)。哦,這太艱難了。雖然還是有一定挑戰(zhàn),但我覺(jué)得上班族媽咪不像電影明星那樣勞累?!?/p> 我的孩子才剛學(xué)會(huì)走路,因此我對(duì)你說(shuō)的表示強(qiáng)烈同意。 幾乎每個(gè)早晨,我站在風(fēng)吹的向北地鐵站臺(tái),準(zhǔn)備開(kāi)始到市中心的45分鐘行程時(shí),總會(huì)對(duì)自己說(shuō)“謝天謝地,幸好我不用每年拍一部數(shù)百萬(wàn)美元的電影。”每每遇到棘手問(wèn)題,我都會(huì)這樣告訴自己。這句話就是我的口頭禪。 據(jù)我所知,身邊已做了母親的同事朋友們都是這么想的。女士們,我說(shuō)的沒(méi)錯(cuò)吧? 我們總是說(shuō)在工作和家庭生活中尋求平衡是件輕而易舉的事。每次我在每周一次的固定小聚會(huì)上聊天時(shí),總會(huì)拿保姆來(lái)作比較。保姆們經(jīng)常提著大包小包,舉著求職牌子在我家附近轉(zhuǎn)悠??纯茨囊粋€(gè)更輕松吧。是那些夜以繼日工作但卻無(wú)法保證交得起房屋貸款,晚上躺在床上擔(dān)心飯碗,養(yǎng)家糊口的婦女,還是那些在職場(chǎng)上難以獲得晉升機(jī)會(huì),有一份朝九晚五的工作卻在孩子生病時(shí)感到煎熬又沒(méi)有照顧孩子的備選方案的職場(chǎng)媽咪呢? 還在做夢(mèng)的媽媽們,讓我來(lái)告訴你吧! 別忘了還有托兒所!眾所周知,格溫妮絲重?fù)?dān)纏身?,F(xiàn)在這個(gè)時(shí)代要找個(gè)好幫手真是太難了。因此附近可供選擇的公立高質(zhì)量日托所是很不錯(cuò)的選擇。這能夠讓你獲得巨大的幫助,讓事情變得輕松,而且你還不用每年付給全職照顧小孩的保姆3-6.5萬(wàn)美元。 在E!的節(jié)目采訪中,你一針見(jiàn)血地說(shuō)上班族可以在早上辦完事。作為上班族的我,早上有大把大把的悠閑時(shí)光。有時(shí),我甚至在咖啡冷掉前能喝下半杯!早上六點(diǎn)之后醒來(lái),我就無(wú)所事事,洗洗澡,打扮打扮,在躺在嬰兒床里的孩子哭之前我還有充足的時(shí)間套上緊身衣。當(dāng)孩子開(kāi)始哭時(shí),我才需要做出抉擇:我要好好打扮一番還是帶著濕漉漉的頭發(fā)去照顧孩子呢?我有太多可選擇的余地啦! 接下來(lái),我會(huì)喝點(diǎn)雞尾酒,規(guī)劃下我的401k退休福利計(jì)劃。(適用美國(guó)私人公司的一種延后課稅的退休金賬戶計(jì)劃,因相關(guān)規(guī)定在國(guó)稅法第401K條中而得名。) 下班回來(lái),我精神飽滿地準(zhǔn)備按照Goop(一個(gè)提倡健康生活方式的網(wǎng)站)上的菜單做飯:文火烹調(diào)的蔬菜湯、意大利熏肉和面包屑。再然后,我會(huì)去做做瑜伽,沉思幾個(gè)小時(shí)或者上網(wǎng)購(gòu)物,根據(jù)Goop的推薦挑選一條350美元的白色豹皮短褲,用來(lái)在春假和丈夫孩子一塊出門的時(shí)候穿。 生完孩子后,我穿起來(lái)還算好看的也只有短褲了。 格溫妮絲,你深諳上班族父母的訣竅:辦公室工作跟每天工作14小時(shí)電影人比真的不算什么。那些在華盛頓工作,特別是從事金融、法律和科技的人很可能一天要滿滿地工作14小時(shí)吧? 幸好幸好,這些朝九晚五的“普通工作”還是很多的。 要是丟了一份,你還是能找到另一份的。 麥肯茲 (譯者 我靈感 編輯 丹妮) 掃一掃,關(guān)注微博微信
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