Day-care teacher, single mom

Theresa Alfonso Mendez, 34, day-care teacher at Bright Horizons Boeing Family Center. Separated from her husband; single parent to Geneva, 12, and Christian, 10.

"I've been working since I was 14 — my mother taught me to earn my keep. I have always been involved in early-childhood education, and my children were able to attend the daycare centers where I worked. With both of them, I took four weeks of maternity leave and then was back on the job. When they were infants, I could breastfeed them during my 15-minute breaks.

I've worked in inner-city daycare centers where many of the children were from low-income families and in centers where the children were from more privileged backgrounds. I've come to realize that we all have the same issues ... you see you're not alone, that we all need to give each other support and advice in being a parent. After all, it doesn't matter how rich or poor you are when your child is having a meltdown in a store.

Even if I didn't have to work outside the home, I think I would. I enjoy being able to bring something to the children in my care — to share cultural experiences they otherwise might not have, to teach them to be sensitive to others. I think being a working mother sets a good example to my children, and in that same way I've tried to be active outside my job as well, like volunteering my time for community service."

Mary Rothschild is a former Seattle Times editor; she can be reached at hoffelt_rothschild@hotmail.com.