While at work (haha) I was browsing through some blogs and saw this post by http://herbadmother.com/2011/02/they-said-shut-up/. She brings up some valid points that I have thought about many times before. There are so many people who frown upon being a stay-at-home mom. Trust me, I have been in the middle of that argument before. When my oldest was born I had been thinking about being a stay at home mom for as long as I possibly could. I was criticized and put down about spending time with my daughter (how dare I!!) from many colleagues, friends and even family members. I was told that with my smarts and my education, why am I going to waste my talents being a stay-at-home mom?
I'm sorry, but isn't being a mother a job too?
I guess in their opinion, if you aren't making money, it's not a job. Closed-minded bastards. What about stay-at-home fathers? Everyone knows that there are some women who are out making the money and fathers playing the role of "mommy". Are they looked upon in the same way? Probably not. I am sure that the men who are stay-at-home fathers are looked at positively. It's definitely a matter of sexism.
The thought disgusts people even more when you go ahead and add in the fact that you're a stay-at-home mommy blogger. Those words may make someone gasp, put a horrified look on their faces and make them run for cover. After all, a stay-at-home mommy blogger is someone who exploits their children for other's enjoyment right? WRONG. That could not be more wrong. Well, even if you take out the "stay-at-home mom" part of that out of the equation, it still may make people gasp and look horrified. How dare someone write about their child(ren) on the internet! How dare that mom stay at home and take care of their children!
My title is a "work-at-home mom" (partially) and I even get those horrified looks too.
"You don't leave the house to work?" No
"What do you do with your kids while you work?" Um...they stay in the house and go about their business.
"It's not a real job if you're staying at home." Really? Because I do get a paycheck and I do have a job title. Hmm... Your thought process is WHACK! (Oh yes, I've heard that one many-a-time.)
Then I hear even more horrified reactions when I say that my mom babysits my children occasionally while I work at home. "Your mom does what?!", "Your poor mom!" and so on. Is that any different than my mom babysitting my kids while I'm actually at a brick and mortar job?
Some individual's thought processes are stuck in time. They need to open their minds more and accept that there are all different types of families. Single parent families with working parents, work at home parents, stay at home parents and so on. So is life in the year 2011 and will continue... Dare I even tell some people that I am a single, 26 year old partial work-at-home mom who is a mommy blogger and has two little girls? Oh the horror! I should be stoned, right? *insert eye roll here*
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