Some are anthologies, such as "Mommy Wars," in which stay-at-home moms "face off" against career moms, and "Maybe Baby," which ponders the question of whether to procreate at all. Others, such as "Every Mother Is a Daughter" by Perri Klass and Sheila Solomon Klass, and Caitlin Flanagan's "To Hell With All That: Loving and Loathing Your Inner Housewife," unpack the narrative baggage of traditional femininity as if it were one of the original Greek myths. As Susan Salter Reynolds pointed out in a review in this paper last Sunday, "in the ebb and flow of publishing, these and other books, all released within a short period, indicate a groundswell, an issue about to break."

From where I sit, which, admittedly, is on the couch where I can read without the interruption of feeding schedules or carpool duties, it seems to me that both sides of this debate have validity. As enticing as it sounds to be able to break away from rigid nuclear family structures and invite the community to participate in raising healthy children (in the form of universal healthcare, government subsidized day care or, ahem, decent public schools), the fact remains that even the most affluent communities now look more like the Mall of America than Mayberry. And if there's anyplace you don't want to turn your child loose, it's at the intersection of a video arcade and Victoria's Secret.

But it's worth remembering (or at least trying to believe) that in terms of sorting out these issues, we're still in a transitional time. It may seem like we're making the same complaints our mothers made, but we'd do well to remember that feminism, despite rumors of its death, is still in its early stages. Perhaps becoming a mother does mean realizing we haven't achieved as much equality as we thought we had. But perhaps, also, we can take steps (albeit baby steps) toward using our guilt for a good cause. If my generation can accomplish one goal, maybe it should be ensuring that our daughters don't feel as guilty as we did. But what kind of mother would do something like that?