Wow - Talk about people throwing stones - - -
I am a working mother.
I have friends who are good Mom's who don't work.
I have friends who are good Mom's who do work.
I know people who are TERRIBLE Mom's - period - quite a few of them "stay at home."
The assumption made here by a great many of you is flat out rude, insulting, inaccurate and SINFUL. Yes, SINFUL.
I do EVERYTHING that every stay-at-home mother does and THEN I work on top of that.
You are spreading rumors, false wittness, to things you obviously have no idea about.
I have worked since my children were born. I did not WANT to. I WANTED to be, and PLANNED to be, a stay-at-home. I guess God had other ideas though. My daughter was "past due" when her father lost his job. To eat, to have a home, to even pay for her delivery, I had to continue with the job I had planned to give up.
But you know what? I worked 100% harder at being a mother because of that. I got up early so that I had time with her (and later her brother.) I breast-fed, and when I went to work and she stayed with her grandmother I pumped so she could have the benefits of breast feeding.
I used my lunch hour to visit her and rock her.
I rocked her to sleep at night, read bible stories to her before she could sit up, sang to her...
I taught her to read.
I helped her with her homework.
I knew every one of her friends by names.
I never missed a single school party or school event from kindergarten to graduation.
I cooked. I cleaned.
I hand made every halloween costume she ever wore.
I fixed her hair for every dress performance she ever was in.
I taught her to ride a bike.
I was there when she cried with joy and when she cried with sorrow.
I did the SAME thing for my son, only instead of dance and orchestra it was football, baseball and orchestra.
She is not only a fine Christian, but she is a missionary for the Lord with a college education. She calls me several times a week just to talk to me. We're VERY close.
My son hasn't graduated yet, but we talk for hours. He already begs me to let him get a job. He is a fine Christian also, who comes home worried about how to help others who are NOT Christian.
I know his friends by name too.
Its not easy. I get up earlier, I go to bed later. I've learned to survive on less sleep.
It wasn't the life I wanted, but every time I talked about quitting their father asked me to keep working, so I did.
See, he was a social worker, and society doesn't CARE about social workers. His salary didn't pay the living expenses. We weren't buying yachts and jewels with my salary. We were buying school supplies and clothing.
As to the "non-working" mothers and their perfection? Give me a break!
There were never less than 25 kids in any class any of my children took in school. The same families showed up for every event. Two of them non-working mothers, the rest who showed were working mothers who did not want to neglect their kids.
The non-working moms always had an art-class, or a tennis-match at the country club. They "wanted a little time away" from their kids.
The drug addicts were the kids who had wealthy parents and stay at home moms. (No, that's not an assumption. A flat out fact. Two are dead, three are in jail today.)
My mother worked all my life.
She didn't want to either.
She was a nurse. She had a sick child.
They needed money for medical bills.
She cooked me breakfast.
She was home within an hour of when I got out of school.
My sister is a working Mom.
She takes her kid to school every morning.
(I did too until my son asked to please let him walk.)
She picks her child up after school every afternoon.
(I did that too until THIS year. He is an 8th grader and we live one block from the school. He gets out of school 15 minutes before I get off work.)
I've quit higher paying jobs to accept the job that wanted my skills and agreed to let me do whatever my children needed.
I cook.
I clean.
I sew.
I do yard work.
I teach them God's word.
I pray with them.
I love them.
And to those of you who are sitting out there with your self-righteous ways.
How DARE you imply that you love your children more than I love mine? Or that you care for your children better than I care for mine?