Terrero A

Language: English
References: 0
Page: 33-34
PDF size: 111.62 Kb.

Text Extraction

The scene: a family doctor-and-nurse offi ce. After the usual wellbaby visit for the eight-month-old, the physician poses a question to the young mother that sounds more like a statement: “I suppose you won’t be going back to work, right? You’ll be staying home to take care of your little girl.”
The mother, surprised, responds with a laugh: “Of course not. As soon as she’s a year old and walking, she’ll be going to day care and I’ll be going back to work.” The doctor, a look of concern crossing her brow, responds: “But once they start in day care, they catch all kinds of things. They’re much safer at home.” The mother, now unsmiling, says: “Well, she’ll just have to catch antibodies.” Attempting a joke, the specialist sighs: “Ah, my friend… and you’ve been such a good mother!” Silence. How do you respond to this? Two truths are implicit in the commentary, thought the young mother. The fi rst, that the doctor wasn’t sure at the outset that she was a good mother. And the other, that once she decides to send her daughter to day care, she stops being one.