Newsweek is full of interesting clips these days - here is an candid article about the war between SAHMs and mothers who work outside the home. Ever since women started working in more than one place, this debate has been contentiously fought by people who think it's their way, or the highway.
Why can't we all get along?
Seriously, though, every person is different. Why can't people recognize that some women want to be a mother AND a corporate lawyer, or baker, or landscape architect? And on the flip side, why do SAHMs get a reputation for being lazy, lying around watching Oprah and eating bon bons? It's stupid, really - just another issue that pits people against one another and gives them an excuse to judge someone's life about which they know nothing.
I was raised by a mother who worked outside the home (and plenty inside, too) and she was/is fantastic. She needed the outside work, the socialization, the stimulation, and the sense of intrinsic reward she got from a job well done. It was her chosen field, her calling - just like motherhood was. I would never begrudge her that happiness in the hopes of having fresh-baked cookies waiting for me after school. That's not the way the world works.
It's such a shame that people can't just let it go and stop preaching to others about the "right way," because there is no right way - there is only what is right for your family.
Why can't we all get along?
Seriously, though, every person is different. Why can't people recognize that some women want to be a mother AND a corporate lawyer, or baker, or landscape architect? And on the flip side, why do SAHMs get a reputation for being lazy, lying around watching Oprah and eating bon bons? It's stupid, really - just another issue that pits people against one another and gives them an excuse to judge someone's life about which they know nothing.
I was raised by a mother who worked outside the home (and plenty inside, too) and she was/is fantastic. She needed the outside work, the socialization, the stimulation, and the sense of intrinsic reward she got from a job well done. It was her chosen field, her calling - just like motherhood was. I would never begrudge her that happiness in the hopes of having fresh-baked cookies waiting for me after school. That's not the way the world works.
It's such a shame that people can't just let it go and stop preaching to others about the "right way," because there is no right way - there is only what is right for your family.
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