The Mommy Wars

So the war wages on between working women and stay at home moms (SAHM) as it has forever and ever, amen. Or at least for the last thirty to forty years.

Working Moms are selfish and putting their own wants before their kids' needs and SAHMs have dark, empty lives filled with unfulfilling, boring, repetitive tasks.

I'm not going to judge any woman for working. Each woman can decide what her own circumstances are and what suits her own family. But some truths are inescapable. It is better for children to be raised by family than daycare, no matter how good the daycare may be, and women take a huge economic and social hit by choosing to stay home. They lose the years where other women (and most men) are building careers, work histories, and resumes. They find themselves going back into the workforce with new technology and no references and a lot of fear.

For some people it's a fair trade off. They're willing to put up with the insecurity, the dependency, and the anxiety because they enjoyed raising their kids and felt they were doing something important. For others, it's not.

But I am irritated at the condescending 'boring, repetitive' rap. What work isn't boring and repetitive? For every woman in a career where they write magazine articles and jet around as a corporate climber there are a heck of a lot more women working at Walmart, making french fries, working in factories, doing clerical work, and a thousand other mundane, boring, repetitive, jobs. They're necessary jobs but they sure aren't fulfilling.

And the boring and repetitive things that SAHMs do? Someone still has to do it. Children=poopie diapers=someone has to change them. Someone has to cook. Someone has to clean. Someone has to buy food, wash clothes, organize the household. It has to be done and it's usually still women who are doing it.

Only these days they're doing it all after they spend 40 hours a week at their fulfilling, exciting careers. Waiting tables at Waffle House.