Saw a bumper sticker the other day…

“Every mother is a working woman.”

Just to level-set, let’s define someone who “works” as someone who gets paid for what they do.  So in that context, is every mother a working woman??  No.

And it’s that kind of “well…uh…I…uh…’work’ [winky wink]….uh…” drivel, made up by stay at home moms, that drives me ape.  I just don’t get it.  You’ve got a super sweet gig, Girlfriend!  Why trivialize it by acting and sounding all defensive about being a “working” woman?!

It does NOT make you sound empowered and happy with your lot in life.  Rather, you sound bitter and like-you-would-have-made-a-different-choice-if-you-could.  And that “I’m the CEO of the XYZ Family” is just nonsense.  So stop.

If you don’t know what it’s like to work AND be a mom, just stop.  I’m serious.  This has got me all riled up!  Can you tell?!

To be the traditional bread-winner (like the husbands from the 50’s) AND to be the mother (like Mrs. Cunningham from Happy Days) all-in-one-person is really, really, REALLY hard.   Unless you’ve done it, you cannot possibly comprehend how hard it is and what a high level of anxiety you constantly function within.

Being two…two…two people in one – is it harder than being (just) a stay at home mom?!  Perhaps.  Is it easier??  Absolutely not!  So don’t denigrate it.  My mother always said: You don’t build yourself up by tearing someone else down.

So, if you’re a stay at home mom by hook or by crook – stand proud.  Enough with the silly bumper stickers!  Don’t try to minimize what the working women do, and perhaps they won’t try to minimize what you (we?) do.

This reminds me of a song from my college/sorority days…”we’re all good sisters, each one the other’s friend, and we’ll be good sisters ’til all the world shall end.  CHUG!!!”