Web Original: Suburban Mom Roundtable

Meet the ladies:

[sidebar]Sandy Hingston, 51, lives in Montgomery County, is an editor at Philadelphia magazine, and has been married for 25 years, with two kids, 19 and 15.

Vicki Glembocki, 37, is a writer for Philadelphia and lives in South Jersey with her husband and two daughters, ages three and 17 months.

Renee Stojek, 30, an art director who just got marrried last year, lives in Bucks County.

Jess Thompson, 27, grew up on the Main Line and now lives in Center City, where she’s single and working at an ad agency.

Katie Motyka, 22, just graduated from Penn in the spring with a degree in psychology and fine art, and is working part-time at the university, trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life.

I. THE OLD STAY-AT-HOME VS. WORK DEBATE

VICKI: So, what’s your vision for balancing a career and having kids?

RENEE: I’m struggling a lot with this issue right now because we want to have kids — not right this second, but in the next year. And basically, I bring in most of our income. My ultimate vision would be to move everything home and start a freelance business.

VICKI: So you would work at home while taking care of the kids at home?

RENEE: No, I imagine that my husband Sebastian would be home, too, and take care of the kids. He’s much better at that stuff than I am.

VICKI: Does he agree?

RENEE: Yeah. He’d rather just be a stay-at-home dad. He might end up staying at home and I might end up at work. I’m not sure we’re ready to deal with that.

VICKI: So you like the idea of a parent being home with the child?

RENEE: Yes. My mom was home with us. She worked wherever she could get jobs at night.