In today’s edition of the topic we call Mom-Nonsense, we’ll cover the debate about whether working or staying home is better for babies and present new evidence that….IT DOESN’T REALLY MATTER. Yes, ladies, we’ll have to come up with another measure by which we can judge each other (organic cooking, perhaps?) because statistics from the U.S. Department of Education say reading and math scores of kids before kindergarten (ages 4 years old) are highest for moms working part-time but, sorry to say, not by much and not even in every category. The best method of raising high-scoring kids, it seems, is to keep yourself alive and around. (Here are free ways to make your kids smarter.) Children without mothers at home do not test well.  See for yourself the stats.

Average early reading score of kids whose mothers work:

• Full time:     25.6
• Part time:    26.3
• Stay home:  25.5
• No mother: 21.6

Average early math score of kids whose mothers work:

• Full time:     30.3
• Part time:    30.6
• Stay home:  29.3
• No mother: 26.3

Average expressive vocabulary score of kids whose mothers work:

• Full time:     2.5
• Part time:    2.5
• Stay home:  2.4
• No mother: 2.3

Average color knowledge (knowing 10 of 10) of kids whose mothers work:

• Full time:     67.5
• Part time:    63.5
• Stay home:  62.1
• No mother: 57.3

Average fine motor-skills of kids whose mothers work:

• Full time:     3.5
• Part time:    3.5
• Stay home:  3.3
• No mother: 3.0

Source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education