Conway On Motherhood In A Trump Administration

After her recent selection as President-elect Donald Trump's counselor, Kellyanne Conway talked about how motherhood fits with her new role on Fox Business Thursday morning. Despite being mother of four, Conway asserted that she believes she will still have plenty of energy to devote to Trump's administration. "I would say that I don't play golf and I don't have a mistress, so I have a lot of time that a lot of these other men don't," Conway told Fox's Juan Williams. "I see people on the weekend spending an awful lot of time on their golf games, and that's their right, but the kids will be with me, we live in the same house, and they come first."

Earlier this month, Conway had suggested that she would not take a White House position, if offered one, with the concern that she wouldn't have enough time for her kids. "My children are 12, 12, 8 and 7, which is bad idea, bad idea, bad idea, bad idea for mom going inside [the White House]," Conway told audience members at Politico's Women Rule event in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 8. She assured that a refusal to join in "would be [her] personal choice," but ultimately conceded that she would be open to "do whatever the president-elect and the vice president-elect … believe is [her] best and highest use for them."

Appearing to change her perspective a bit, Thursday's Conway voiced her security in joining a Trump-run White House, saying: "I know this will be a very family-friendly West Wing. I did weigh a number of different factors, including my children," Conway informed, describing her decision-making process in a bit more detail:

Everyone has to do what's best for their family and it's why I didn’t jump immediately on a position that was offered to me early in the transition -- because there’s a lot to weigh.

Conway's faith in this decision was made easier by her perception of the president-elect's familial behavior. "I've seen Donald Trump up close and personal with his own children and his grandchildren, and certainly his 10-year-old son and his wife. And I know that he is very pro-family," she told Fox. On record, though, Trump has said he doesn't change diapers, because, he believes, "certain things you do and certain things you don’t." Providing for his family financially appears to be the full extent of Trump's fatherly duties: "I'll supply funds and she’ll take care of the kids," he told Howard Stern in a 2005 interview, referring to wife Melania Trump at the time.

Seeing as Conway has been with Trump since early July, it's no surprise that he'd ask her to join him in a more permanent, advisory role. Conway "played a crucial role in my victory," Trump said in a statement announcing Conway's new responsibility. Whereas Conway appeared to go back and forth as to whether or not she'd participate in such an involved capacity, she ultimately decided that the honor was too great to pass up. By committing her spare time to her kids as opposed to other extracurriculars, Conway believes that her family and career can continue to flourish.