Book review: The Way Home

Anyone who has read any of my writing knows I’m a huge defender of stay-at-home moms. There are too few of us left in this world, and I figure we need all the defense we can get.

So when I found out there was a 25th anniversary edition of Mary Pride’s classic The Way Home: Beyond Feminism, Back to Realty being released, I knew I had to read it. Or re-read it, actually. I first read this book back in 1996 when Older Daughter was an infant. I was fresh out of graduate school and my husband was struggling to keep our home woodcraft business afloat and able to support us. Pressured by schoolmates and coworkers to contribute in a meaningful way to the family income, I was searching for anything to justify my fierce desire to stay home with our baby.

That fierce desire became more and more difficult because of the precarious financial existence in those early years of our business. For many years, I ended up taking a succession of second- and third-shift jobs while my husband stayed home with our daughter (and later, second daughter). In other words, like so many young people we toggled work hours so one of us was always home with our children. “Daycare” is a four-letter word in our home. We strongly feel that no one but us should have the responsibility or privilege of raising our daughters.

When our business reached the shaky stage where I could quit outside employment and join my husband in our workshop, I felt like I had won the lottery. I knew I was back in my rightful place: the home.

Because make no mistake: no matter how much feminists would have us believe housewives are pitiful hapless drudges, stay-at-home moms know better.

Pride’s book debunks the feminist notion that the Bible denies women any power, prestige, or ambitions. Feminists would like to claim that the Bible defines a woman’s role as that of a helpless parasite. To which I would love to ask, really? Do you think God created half the population of the planet to be useless parasites? Or perhaps – just maybe – He created women for a separate but equal-in-importance role?

Mary Pride shows how modern society emphasizes autonomy at the expense of partnership as one of the forces driving couples apart.

The whole premise of Pride’s book is that marriage and parenthood are not the burdens and hassles modern feminism has painted them to be. Women can find unbelievable freedom within the biblical definition of family, freedom to truly learn what God has in store for them.

That this freedom may not include being CEO of a law firm is what bugs the feminists, so if you’re of a feminist mindset you may want to skip this book altogether.

But if you feel that family life can be richer and deeper than progressive society has led you to believe, Pride’s book will reinforce and encourage your decision to be the heart of a family.