Being a mom to daughter Lauren, 3, and son John, 18 months, has given GUIDING LIGHT’s Laura Wright (Cassie) a whole new perspective on the parenting challenges her own mother faced. "I think it was harder then than it is now," says the actress, who is the youngest of three children. "I grew up in the ’70s, and I’m sure that they had it easier than women before them.
"But still," she continues, "women weren’t allowed to have nannies or say that they wanted to hire someone two days a week to help take care of the kids. Women weren’t allowed to take care of themselves then. I think that women, mothers today, have it much easier."
A Different Generation
Wright, who herself has a nanny to lend a hand at home, is acutely aware of how much the times have changed since she was a small child. After all, it is society’s recent acceptance of the working mother that enabled women of Wright’s generation to return to work full-time following the birth of their children. "Back then, it was harder on women to think of themselves as anything other than a mother," she says. "It was, ‘You’re the wife and you stay home and take care of the kids.’ Well, no. My mom’s Betty, and she’s a wife and a mother, but she’s also a woman, an individual. And she needed to be the best of all of those things that she can be, so she could be good enough for everybody else."
That philosophy the actress adopted as her personal mantra when she returned to work. "Instead of worrying about my guilt [in leaving the kids at home], I focused on how I can be the best that I can be, for them," she explains. "Because if I’m not taking care of Laura, then I’m no good for little John, Lauren or my husband. And that’s the kind of example I want to be for my kids, that Mommy is able to take care of herself and still be a good mom."
In Two Places At Once
Though the actress acknowledges that having a nanny is a huge help to her and husband John, who owns his own contracting business, Wright points out it’s a double-edged sword. "I get off work, and people say to me, ‘Oh, are you going to rush right home so you can rest?’ I’m like, ‘Rest? No, if I want a nap, I’ve got to stay here [at the studio] for a couple of hours!’" she laughs. "The break is leaving and going to work. And even when I’m at work, half my mind is still with home! I’m constantly thinking, ‘Did I leave their clothes out? Did I remember to pick up chicken fingers and mac and cheese from the grocery store for dinner tonight because I might not be there?’ You’re doing double duty."
The Hardest Job Of All
Thanks to the flexible schedule that daytime offers, Wright feels blessed that she’s able to spend as much time and as many full days with her children as she does. And of those days off, Wright exclaims, "Staying home to take care of the kids is friggin hard! From the time you get up until you go to bed, you are their entertainment. Unless, by the grace of God, they take a nap. And then you’re like, ‘If anyone makes a noise, I am killing you!’ Because I’ve got that hour and a half, tops, for myself."
And even then, like every other mother, the actress finds herself picking up toys and putting away laundry. "When I look at my mom & who did it all & as far as I’m concerned, she had the most difficult job of all in raising the kids and feeding the family," Wright concludes. "Being a parent has definitely made me look at her in a different light. I have the utmost respect for my mom and all that she did." — Michelle Ann Moro
Laura Wright
