Working Mom

There's been so many articles circulating on my Mommy sites about Working Moms vs. Stay at Home Moms. I don't get why people argue which is better and bicker back and forth about who works harder. My take on it is slightly different. Currently, and for the last 10 years, I am the breadwinner in our family. In the last 5 years I am the only one with an income while my husband is in his final year of school trying to build a better career for himself and a more stable life for our family. Because of this, there has never been a question of "if" I could be a stay at home mom.

 My theory isn't that one or the other is better, my theory is some people are cut out for one or the other. It's a job in itself and just like I'm good at my job, a SAHM is equally good at her job. For as long as I can remember I didn't want to be in school, I wanted to work. I'm good at working, I like working, I like being surrounded by awesome people and working for a great company. I'm good at it. I am not so good at being a stay at home mom. I love spending time with my kids, but I lack the patience you need to be able to deal with kids for 12-13 hours a day. I could never do what a stay at home mom does and I feel like their jobs are thankless.

Just because I work doesn't mean I don't suffer from some of the SAHM woes. I know how it feels to clean for hours and it looks as if you've done nothing. I know how it feels to be ENDLESSLY exhausted whether you have a newborn, toddler or child. I know how it feels to just want to walk out of your house and scream at the top of your lungs from the insanity of just trying to get your 4-year-old dressed. I know how it feels to always be behind on school activities and events (my kid wore sweatpants on picture day). I'm the mom who pays all of the bills, makes the grocery lists, makes all of the doctors and dentists appointments, organizes the kids closets and clothes and many other things, including running my own side business. The point being that even though I'm a working mom, I'm still involved like a stay at home mom. My job allows me to be flexible to make it to special events, appointments or to just stay home when one of my kids aren't feeling well.

My kids don't love me any less for being a working mom. They may not understand it at this point in their young lives, but one day they will. I always understood that my parents had to work so we could have money for groceries and for living. I was a latchkey kid, part of carpools, hung out at friend's houses after school. I never thought my parents loved me any less. If anything it taught me that you have to work hard to support your family. What I've come to realize is some people believe that being a working mom means you don't love your children, but in reality, being able to provide them with food, shelter and fun things to do is how I love and take care of them.

*Side note: This goes for stay-at-home Dads too. :-)