Stepping Down To Raise Her Kids Makes Karoline Leavitt An Even Better Role Model

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Wednesday that she will step down from her role in a few weeks to spend more time with her two young children. While she’s earned her spot as a rising star in the briefing room, her new role will likely be an even greater service to the country, as she hinted in a farewell message posted on Wednesday. “Our country is facing an existential threat from an increasingly extremist Democrat Party that seeks to destroy everything great about America, and I believe it is incumbent upon all of us who care about this country to fight back against that threat,” she wrote. “My fight is entering a new phase, but it is far from over.” Leavitt, who assumed her role at the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term after working as his press secretary on the campaign trail, welcomed a son in July 2024 and a daughter in May, both of whom she shares with her husband Nicholas Riccio. After the birth of her son, Leavitt took three days off before an assassination attempt against then-candidate Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, brought her back from maternity leave. Leavitt has received praise for “doing it all,” juggling one of the most high-pressure jobs in the world with motherhood of young children. Less than a year after her son’s birth, she was pictured at her desk bottle-feeding him in one arm while typing with the other. The photo went viral, with many cheering the “super mom” and others expressing sympathy. Pamela Paul of The Wall Street Journal mentioned Leavitt’s three-day postpartum absence admiringly in a piece last year about “The Conservative Women Who Are ‘Having It All.’” Paul presented women like Leavitt, Sen. Katie Britt, and White House adviser May Mailman as exemplars of right-leaning women who refused to choose between demanding, high-profile careers and raising their children. “Pregnant with her third child, she flies home to Houston on Friday nights to spend the weekend with her family,” Paul wrote of Mailman. “People say to me, ‘When you’re home, I hope you can really connect with your kids’ and I’m like, ‘You’re crazy. When I’m home, I’m constantly attached to my phone,’” Mailman told her. Further down in the piece, Paul quoted a comment Leavitt made on The Megyn Kelly Show when her son was 7 months old. “I would reject that you can’t be a good mom and be good at your job,” Leavitt had told Kelly. But in the full interview, she was more candid about the sacrifices her job demanded. “As a mother, you want to be with your child 24/7, you have that maternal instinct,” Leavitt said. “But also recognizing, like, I’m doing this work for my son, and for all children, to make this country better. … It’s also very, it’s temporary, right? … This chaos of 24/7 work is a temporary matter. And that’s what at least I tell myself to get through these very long and hard days.” It was clear from the young mother’s words and expressive delivery that she was pained by the long absences from her babies that her work requires. She speaks like someone who understands that hours spent working are hours not spent with her children, and that “having it all” usually looks more like something having to give. That same self-awareness was evident in her farewell message on Wednesday. “The truth is,” she wrote, “since returning to the White House after the birth of my daughter, I have felt in my heart that I cannot be the best mom my two young children deserve while devoting the constant time, energy, and attention required of the White House Press Secretary.” There’s plenty of research on the importance of a mother’s time and attention to young children’s development, but it’s a need most mothers already understand innately. And most women want it for themselves, too — a 2019 study found that fewer than 3 in 10 married mothers chose full-time work as their ideal. As she departs, Leavitt should be commended for her impressive contributions in the briefing room. She should also be commended for choosing to prioritize the needs of her young children, even at the expense of pausing or redirecting her career for a season (though she will have no shortage of opportunities awaiting her when she’s ready). And she deserves credit for the boldness and clarity with which she’s explained her decision, too. It would be easy for a woman in her position to go along with the narrative many have projected onto her, that young mothers can devote themselves to the most demanding jobs in existence without any effect on their home life. Instead, Leavitt speaks clearly about the sacrifices her career has required of her family, and has put actions behind her words. In doing so, she is more of a role model for young women than ever. Elle Purnell is the assignment editor at The Federalist. She has appeared on Fox Business and Newsmax, and her work has been featured by RealClearPolitics, the Tampa Bay Times, and the Independent Women's Forum. She received her B.A. in government with a minor in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @_ellepurnell. FamilyfeminismKaroline LeavittmomsmotherhoodmothersparentingWhite House