IN MY HEART

Sweet assurance for a child heading off to day care: Mama spends her day missing you.

This message is repeated in rhyming text on 12 spreads. As mother buckles the car-seat belt, the child asks, “Mama, I will miss you. What do you do all day?” On the left side of subsequent spreads Mama moves through her day in an office constantly thinking of her child—even peeking at baby pictures during a meeting. The right-hand page shows the child happily playing at day care. The final four spreads show them cheerfully together again for evening rituals: bath, reading time, and bedtime. Both mother and child have dark skin with straight black hair. The pair share the same persistent smile and pink dot cheeks, and their clothing and dispositions are consistently sunny and bright. The pages are decorated with birds, hearts, and flowers. Readers will note that their days are rather unrealistically stress-free. There are no tantrums or guilty feelings in this idealized world (and also no parental partner). And never mind that Mama might actually think about work at work.

This idyllic but possibly incomplete version of a working mother’s day may provide comfort to a child in day care.