This is not a book about how to get rid of children while pursuing a career. Rather it is about creating a happy environment and a happy family, exploiting what facilities are available to the parents" and the children"s best advantage. It addresses itself not only to the practical problems of finding child care facilities for the working mother, but also to the overall adjustment by the family to having a mother working, and possibly to a living-in nanny or au pair. The book offers advice on making the necessary arrangements and compromises. The main theme running through all the advice is that these are the only children the reader will ever have and, more importantly, this is the only childhood the children will ever have; the book will better arm the parent to make it a good and happy childhood. Practical considerations are borne in mind throughout, such as size of home, the accommodation available, size of income, how much help is needed and at what times. The emphasis is on easing the domestic burden on a working parent, and the best way to achieve this. Childminders, nannies, au pairs, nursery schools, creches, play groups and baby sitters, are among the solutions discussed in detail. Judith Steiner is a writer, teacher and the mother of two teenage sons. Her career has been mainly in education, culminating in the setting-up of her own business providing educational services. She has worked part-time, full-time and all the time, and the book draws largely on her own experience of managing life as a working mother.