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Wednesday, April 06, 2005

There are no winners

There is no winner when moms who work argue with moms who don't work. Aren't all moms, or at-home parents for that matter, on the same side of the fence? Everyone gets to make choices, for better and for worse.

In my previous post where I feel like I'm falling into some sort of lose-lose parenting trap, I said something that just can't be left without further lamenting: "Maybe working moms spend more quality time with their kids because they long to be with their kids all day?"

I definitely don't know the answer to that question, but it got me thinking. Since most of my chums are at-home moms, I really don't have a ton of perspective on the working-mom experience. So thankfully there have been some very informative pieces out there recently on what it's like to work, out of financial, emotional, or intellectual necessity.

Working mom fesses up

Bethany over at Writing Mommy had a great post called, "Confessions of a Working Mother" on Monday about her transition from working-at-home mom to working-at-an-office mom and how it comes together for her.

For those that have never done the work-at-home WITH children thing, it is EXHAUSTING. Totally, exhausting. If you think parenting is exhausting, combine that with deadlines, cold calls, constant firefighting, and early morning and late day calls at home...Unfortunately, I have found, in today's society, if you are a work-at-home mom with children. This is the reality. You live, breathe, eat, sleep mommyhood and workerhood simultaneously. A lot to juggle for anyone. Including the proverbial (and I believe mythical) super moms.


Sometimes there is no choice

Tertia is heading back to work in a couple of weeks and she's struggling with it. She is not trying to point fingers at moms who work or moms who stay home. She's just venting a bit and I think it's a really intersecting perspective. For her, going back to work in South Africa is simply a vehicle to provide her kids with a safe place to live and a shot at a better education. It's not about a meaningful career. It's about money. (Thanks to Half Changed World for pointing me to it)
If I want to live in a relatively safe suburb, if I want my kids to have access to a decent education, I have to work...Career? Who cares. It's all about earning money to live...I must say that I find that there is a slight, um, how can I put it, 'holier than thou' attitude that comes from *some* (not all!) SAHM's, a martyred air of having sacrificed all for their kids. Implicit implication that by not staying at home you are less of a mother, that you clearly love your kids less. I think that's unfair. I would if I could, I can't. I don't think SAHM's are better moms. I really don't, I just think they are luckier moms....Yes money doesn't buy you love, but I don't think being poorer means you love them more. Money doesn't buy you happiness but being poor certainly doesn't give it to you either.
At-home mom or bust

The topic of being able to stay home when you have kids versus having to go back to work and put the kids in daycare is a hefty one that plagues some of my friends who don't even have kids yet. In a recent email, Paralegal Friend said personal finances would probably send her kids to daycare. That likelihood could be a deterrent from having kids in the first place.
In my position both (Mr. Paralegal) and I need to work and if we have a child in a few years, I think I will be forced to go back to work financially and I really would love to be a stay at home mom and DO NOT want to send my child to day care - so sad to say we may not have kids for that reason alone. You really are lucky (Father in Chief) makes enough money to support you and (Toddler in Chief) - I am sure it is easy for me to say that cause child or no child if I quit work and was home I may flip out and not like it or get really bored.
Would love more perspectives. If you're feeling bold, type it up and hit publish.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:35 PM

    Well, there are some of us that are right smack in the middle!

    I work part-time for an incredibly flexible company. Three days a week, I'm at the office being a WOHM. Four days a week, I'm home playing with the children being a SAHM.

    Oh, there are downsides, sure. I don't get much downtime. On my "home days," I don't do much laundry or dishes or cleaning while the kids are awake. (guilt from being away?) So that all waits until after they go to sleep. I don't get to watch much TV or read as much as I'd like. When I'm not with kids, I'm pretty much either working or cleaning.

    But I kinda like being in the middle. For me, it works. I was never much into "black or white." I've always been more a "many shades of gray" kind of gal...

    But one day a few weeks ago, I had these two things said to me on the very same day:

    1) "I don't know how you can let other people raise your kids."

    2) "How could you waste your career potential by staying at your part time job so long? Don't you want promotions and advancement?"

    So, you really can't win! ( :

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  2. Anonymous1:23 PM

    I'm a WOHM. My DS was born the same year I got my MS degree in engineering. I knew I would go back to work right away. I am the youngest of two and knew 0 about babies and small children.

    We are blessed to have a wonderful daycare where the staff are very loving, educated in early childhood education, and the program is excellent with enriching daily activities. Stuff that I could never have come up with on my own (had I stayed home).

    I was raised by a SAHM who taught me that I could do it all. Of course, reality kicked in after DS was born...

    The first couple of years were HARD. I continued to nurse my DS and pumped 3x a day at work. That was exausting. When DS turned two, life became much easier.

    I try not to judge other women's decisions to stay home or continue working. In the DC area, there is a "DC Urban Moms" list. There was a "mommy war" debate about a month or so ago. It became very ugly and personal. I think each side is very defensive and insecure about their choices that they feel the need to validate their choices by criticizing the other side. We should "celebrate" the fact that we have a choice.

    I suppose, we should focus our attention to the bigger issues like having a national maternity leave program and quality childcare.

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