Group eager to fulfill talent and potential
（全职妈妈）群体渴望提升智慧挖掘潜力。
Stay-at-home mother Chen Ying recently approached a publishing house to discuss an album of the hundreds of pen-and-ink drawings she had made of her husband and son as the boy was growing up.
居家妈妈陈颖最近联系一家出版社讨论打算出个专辑，这专辑包括百十余幅钢笔墨水画，素材来自她的丈夫和成长中的儿子。
Chen, whose son is now 18, said she was inspired by friends, who often told her they were touched by the heartwarming scenes she captured from daily family life.
陈颖，如今儿子十八岁了，经常被朋友告诉她的一些暖心场景赋予灵感，这些她在日常家庭生活中注意到了。
"Life as a fulltime mother gave me the inspiration for drawing, as I could spend more time with my son," Chen said.
“做为一个全职妈妈有了更多时间和儿子在一起，这给作画带来灵感，”陈颖说。
She was a stay-at-home mom in Beijing for seven years and previously a project manager for a multinational company in the electronic communications industry in Beijing and in Chicago in the United States.
她居住北京，全职妈妈已经七年，以前在一家跨国电子通讯公司任一个项目负责人，那家公司设在北京和美国芝加哥。
Such mothers have become more common in Chinese cities, especially since the universal two-child policy was started in 2016.
如今这样的妈妈在中国城市里很常见，尤其在2016年实施开放二胎政策后。
However, many of these women, who are well-educated and have performed exceptionally in their careers, are still eager to fulfill their talent and potential, in addition to caring for their families.
然而，很多这样的妈妈们，接受过良好教育且职业生涯也曾叱咤风云，除了照顾好家庭外她们渴望能充实起来，提升智慧挖掘自身更大潜力。
"Full-time mothers in China have reached the stage where they are exploring new values through various means, and not necessarily returning to their original career paths," said Tao Tai, a parttime columnist who has focused on this group for many years.
“（当今）中国全职妈妈们已经到达一个新舞台，在这个新舞台她们通过各种方式开拓新价值，而不是非得重返旧职场。”陶泰说，一家专栏业余记者――已经关注这个群体已经多年，如是说。
Tao, the author of a play about fulltime mothers that debuted in Shanghai last month, said many of these women are looking for new ways to improve themselves, to continue learning and be actively involved in society. Some are pursuing professional qualifications, while others are teaching yoga and donating their earnings to autistic children's charities.
陶写了一部有关全职妈妈的电视剧，上个月在上海首映。电视剧反映了很多全职妈妈们在寻找新途径提升自己继续学习并积极融入社会。一些人去考取专业资格证，有的人就教练瑜伽，有的人为自闭儿童慈善事业奉献热心。
Tao's play features four stay-at-home mothers talking about their insecure financial situations, a lack of communication with other adults, and concerns about the difficulty of returning to work after their children grow up.
陶的剧本以四位居家妈妈为典型，谈及她们经济状况的不稳定，与其他成人交往的缺失，还有对等孩子长大后想返回工作的困难忧虑。
Marriage experts said that they had noticed a rise in the number of stay-at-home mothers in cities.
婚姻专家们说他们早注意到城市里居家妈妈数目的上升。
But they said this was still a "luxury" for this relatively small group for various reasons, such as whether the husband's income can meet the entire household exenditure, or if the couple can progress on their career paths at the same time and respect the advances each of them has made.
他们说，但是相对来说这情况仍是一种“奢侈”，只是一小部分，而且背后有各种原因，比如说丈夫的收入足够维持整个家庭开支，要么就是夫妻职业之路都顺畅，可以同时进步而且重视彼此的发展。
Chen said her life as a stay-at-home mother is even busier than when she was in fulltime employment.
陈颖说她做一个全职妈妈甚至比做全职工作更忙碌。
In addition to daily chores, she has never missed one of her son's fencing classes, violin and viola lessons and performances, or summer camps. She has been an art enthusiast since childhood, and all these activities provided her with material for her drawings.
除了日常家务，她从没落下过儿子的击剑班小提琴中提琴班表演班还有夏令营。她从小就爱好艺术，所有这些活动为她画画提供了素材。
Despite being a fulltime mother, Chen still found time to take classes at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing for two years, paint a book cover, and translate a book about the history of contemporary Western art from English to Chinese, together with two friends.
尽管做全职妈妈，陈颖仍然挤出两年时间在北京美术学院学习了两年，并且和她的两个朋友一起英语版《当代西方艺术》译成汉语。
She was also heavily involved in her son's school activities, such as introducing Chinese paintings from old dynasties and the history of Western art.
她也经常积极专注于儿子的学校活动，比如介绍中国古绘画西方美术史。
In the late 1980s, Chen, an elite student, majored in physics at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, Anhui province, and worked in the US with her husband for many years before settling in Beijing in 2011.
十九世纪八十年代末，陈，毕业于中国合肥科技大学物理系，到2011年定居北京前和她丈夫在美国工作多年。
She said she was initially confused about her identity after becoming a stay-at-home mother, as she once went to a bank to apply for a new card, but when she filled in the form and wrote that her occupation was "housewife", the clerk changed this to "unemployed".
她说起初转型为全职妈妈后也对自己身份困惑，有一次她去银行申请一张新卡，她填表填个“家庭主妇”银行职员给改成“待聘”。
"Now, I describe myself as an art consultant," she said.
“现在我说我是艺术顾问，”她说。
Another stay-at-home mother in Beijing, who wanted to be identified only as Yu, said she has tried to become involved in different social roles in recent years, including working as a volunteer at a museum in Beijing and as an assistant at a Finnish language school in the capital.
另一个住北京的全职妈妈，简单称呼她余吧，说她今近年来努力尝试过不同社会角色，其中包括在北京的展览馆做志愿者而且还在首都芬兰语语言学校做助教。
Both she and her husband worked in Finland for a number of years.
她和她丈夫在芬兰工作过多年。
Yu, who gave birth to her second child nine years ago, said such roles had enabled her to stay in touch with her surroundings and to avoid the fear experienced by most stay-at-home mothers of being excluded from society.
余，九年前生下她第二个宝宝，她说这些角色使她能跟周围环境保持很好联系避免了大多数居家妈妈们因为被社会隔离带来的恐惧。
Trust and support
信任与支持
Chen Yiyun, a marriage researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, suggested that before they wed, couples should discuss whether the wife will become a stay-at-home mother, and that such a decision must be made on the basis of adequate mutual trust and support.
陈逸云，中国社科院婚姻研究专家，建议夫妻婚前讨论协议好妻子能否做居家妈妈，而且这个决定一定要建立在充分信任支持基础之上。
Mothers said the husband's attitude plays a key role in whether the wife can be truly happy with her new role at home.
妈妈们说丈夫的态度起关键运用，关系到妻子在新的家庭角色中真正幸福与否。
Zhang Song, whose wife has been a stay-at-home mother in Shanghai for six years since the birth of their son, said that it was a joint decision for her to give up her job at a bank to be with their son as much as possible.
张松，住上海，自从他们儿子出生后，妻子在家全职妈妈已经六年了，他说，尽可能让妻子放弃银行工作陪伴儿子，这是他俩的共同决定。
"I fully appreciate her diligence and dedication to our home," said Zhang, 37, an accountant. "I don't want her to feel insecure because she no longer has an income. It took me three years to prepare to start my business, during which time she footed the bills. That's how a family works," he said.
“我相当感激她对家的勤奋付出奉献”37岁的张先生――一个会计师说“我不要她因为没有收入没有安全感，启动我的事业花了三年时间，这期间都是她结算付单。那也是如何运作好一个家。”
Chen Yiyun said the main concern of stay-at-home mothers is the difficulty in resuming their careers, and called for more legal protection for them.
陈逸云说居家妈妈主要的忧虑是重返职场的困难，并且诉求更多的法律保护。
"In some Western countries, such as Denmark and Sweden, there are laws guaranteeing that new mothers can return to their jobs within a certain number of years after taking a break to care for their babies. When seeking new jobs, they are also given priority among applicants with similar qualifications.
在一些西方国家，比如丹麦和瑞典，有法律保护体系确保妈妈们照顾孩子们多一些年中断工作后后再重新回到工作中。当找新工作时，在同等资格申请者中优先考虑。
"That's how a society recognizes the social value of such mothers, who dedicate themselves to raising the next generation," she said.
“这就是一个社会意识妈妈们为抚养下一代奉献的价值。”她说。
Tao, the playwright, who was a stay-at-home mother to two children for six years, said she recently talked to three such mothers in the US, and each appeared very confident and positive.
陶，剧作家，为了两个孩子居家六年，最近她跟三个像她一样情况的美国妈妈们谈话，她们每个人都很自信阳光。
"They all told me that their family and friends, especially their mothers who were full-time mothers themselves, favored their decision. This is rare in China," Tao said.
“她们告诉我她们的家庭和朋友，特别是她们的妈妈――也是全职妈妈，很赞同她们的决定。这情况在中国可少。”陶说。
She hopes that one-day stay-at-home mothers in China, like their counterparts in the US, will win widespread respect from society.
她希望有朝一日中国的全职妈妈们也能像美国全职妈妈一样赢得来自社会的广泛尊重。
Tao, who graduated from Fudan University in Shanghai with a major in journalism, returned to work as a copy editor in April.
陶，毕业于上海复旦大学新闻系，四月里返回职场任副编辑。
"Stay-at-home mothers either won't have a pension or just a low pension if they stop working. This is also a source of their sense of insecurity," she said.
“居家妈妈如果停止工作报酬就没有，有也很少，这也是她们没有安全感的一个原因。”陈颖说。