My husband sent me a link to an article from TODAYMoms. Not sure how he came across it, but I thought it was pretty cool that he found it and shared it with me.
The article talked about the guilt and glory that comes with being a working mom. It kind of made me laugh. Not because the content was funny (it was), but because we are still actually having this conversation.
The article was about a Secret Mom survey, sponsored by TODAYMoms and Parenting.com, taken by more than 26,000 mothers. Nearly two-thirds of the moms in the survey worked outside the home and admitted to things like using work as an excuse to get out of childcare or judging other moms who work too much. Some admitted to pretending to not want to go back to work after maternity leave so they wouldn’t be judged as a bad mom.
I’m a mother. I work. I send my kids to daycare. It works for me and my family and has for more than six years. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Neither would my two boys or my husband.
Don’t like it? I don’t particularly care.
Why don’t we have these conversations about men? Do men feel guilty leaving their kids at daycare? Do they pretend to miss their kids while they’re at work? What about the stay at home dads? No one seems to talk about them.
If we’re going the judgment route, how about the fathers that complain they have to “babysit” their own kids? I know moms who are married to women and have kids. Do two mom homes carry double the guilt?
I guess my point is that we spend way too much time distinguishing between moms who work and moms who don’t. Heck, we spend way too much time talking about the right and wrong way to bring up our kids.
We need to be more flexible. And us women need to stop thinking we have to conform to certain motherly images.
While there may be some exceptions out there, as moms we have that gut instinct that tells us what is best for our kids. More so than anyone else on the planet. We may not always like what the mom down the street is doing, but we’re not the mom down the street.
And, chances are, she doesn’t like the way you do things.
If we have happy kids. It doesn’t matter a bit.
Am I right? Or am I just another mom complaining? Feel free to chime in.
Photo Credit: I LOVE MOM MESSAGE © Goh Siok hian | Dreamstime.com
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