'Midweek moment' helps Hughes find family time

Karen Hughes

By Kelly Wallace
CNN White House Correspondent

(CNN) -- Karen Hughes showed up at the White House's first T-ball game in time to support her boss' new initiative (aimed at promoting the national pastime), but only after she spent the afternoon at another Little League field, cheering her 14-year-old son and his teammates on to victory.

It's an example of how one of President George W. Bush's most-trusted advisers, and one of the most-powerful women in the White House, balances a high-profile job and her family.

"When I first got here, I realized that I was going to have to work long hours," Hughes told CNN, so she sat her son Robert down to "prepare" him for how their lives were going to change.

The 44-year-old Hughes homeschooled her son last year so he could travel with her during the presidential campaign. He now attends St. Albans School, a private institution in Washington.

"I think I probably made it sound worse than it was," said Hughes. "Someone at his school told me that he said 'Well, I'm not going to see my mom much anymore, she has to work all the time now,' which broke my heart," she said with a sigh.

Hughes decided to create what she calls the "midweek moment," when she leaves work usually by 5:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, an early departure for a senior staffer, to be with Robert.

"I was looking for a way in the middle of the week that I could say, you are my priority, you are important and if it means having to walk away from my job once in awhile, I'm ready to do that," she said.

Hughes serves as counselor to the president and manages a staff of 43, overseeing the communications, speechwriting, press and media relations offices. She is normally in her second floor West Wing office by 7:00 a.m., and usually leaves by 7:30 p.m. to spend the remaining hours of the day with her family.

Her husband Jerry, an attorney, has taken a break from practicing law to help care for Robert.

Hughes acknowledges she is fortunate to have a supportive husband, and a senior-level position that allows her to "control" much of her own schedule. The top presidential aide says she is also aware that other staffers aren't as fortunate, but she hopes her approach to her family serves as an example to others.

"I wanted to send a signal throughout the organization to other bosses and other people who work at different levels at the White House that their families should be important to them too, and that's the way the president wants us to conduct ourselves," said Hughes.

"He measures your job performance based on results and your work product, not based on whether you're still here with your light on at 10 o'clock at night," she said. "In fact, he prefers for you to be home with your family at 10 o'clock."

Hughes is normally with her family by 10:00 p.m. She also spends most weekends at home, not at the White House.

The Sunday afternoon T-ball game proved to be a rare exception, as she and her son joined the president, first lady Laura Bush and excited parents in make-shift bleachers, watching two pint-sized teams make history on the South Lawn.

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