The modern mother faces many challenges today and it would seem that we women are under relentless pressure to accomplish the perfect balance between family and career however; oftentimes we fail to support each other in this journey.
The working mother will claim that the housewife must be unchallenged whilst the stay-at-home mom accuses the workingwoman of shirking her responsibilities at home.
I’ve had the luxury of being on both sides of the fence.
When I stayed home I envied what I saw as the working mother’s freedom. She was able to leave the home and turn into ‘herself’ rather than the ‘mommy’. She was able to have adult conversations while I steadily grew tired of ‘Barney’ and the ‘Teletubbies’. She was earning her own salary while I had to rely on my husband for money.
Now I am on the ‘other side’.
Yes, I get to talk about grown up stuff and I do have more financial freedom but it’s a trade-off.
When my child is sick I have the awful dilemma of ‘what do I do’? My mommy head is saying ‘your child needs you, forget the job’ but my other head is saying ‘you can’t, you have responsibilities at work’.
I’m in a lucky situation – I can take my children to work with me and so I am able to find a balance, even in challenging situations like illness and school vacations.
I realise that I am not typical and the working mother is faced with circumstances like these daily.
My main point I guess is that there are pros and cons to both sides and we women must work together and support each other, not make the other feel guilty.
Once upon a time women did not have the choices that we have today so lets celebrate the fact that these days we do – not beat each other up for it!
