Reading about recent findings by the Institute for Social and Economic Research that women with children are "significantly happier if they have a job", I was about to say, "No surprise there then", when I stumbled over the subordinate clause: "regardless of how many hours it entails". If this new study is to be believed, even mothers working 41-45 hours a week are reporting "high levels of wellbeing". Good heavens, are they superwomen?
It always comes as music to the ears of beleaguered, often guilt-afflicted working mothers to hear that august academics somewhere have validated their gut reaction that being stuck at home in perpetuity with no independent income is not a great recipe for a mature woman's mental wellbeing. It is always good, if increasingly uncontroversial, to challenge the assumption that mothers would be more fulfilled if they stayed at home with their offspring, sprouting cress and doing cunning things with double-sided sticky tape.

But probe the innermost desires of working mothers and you will find that their attitude to work is a little more nuanced. Every mother has a wistful female friend who got mired in children and domesticity and who regrets it. But anyone who has ever been on maternity leave has also had a tantalising taster of the seductive benefits of not working. The indulgence of not having to drag sleepy children out of their beds at the crack of dawn to travel to childminders. The serenity of reprovisioning the household when the shops are blissfully quiet. The illicit pleasure of long, languorous chats with other mothers in department-store and museum cafes while babies redecorate the well-polished floors with crumbled scones.

Dare I suggest that the dream ticket for most mothers - of young children, at least - is the best of both worlds: a three-day week. That way, you stay sane but don't have to spend all weekend getting the show on the road for another treadmill working week. On full pay, obviously.

The Guardian