The Pressure We Face

In my seven years of being a stay-at-home mother, I have been in many odd situations. When I meet a new person at the church, laundry room, the playground, or any social meeting people often ask me , "Where do you work?", as if there was no other option but to be a career woman.

And when I tell them that I made a choice to be with my children full time the conversation is over. Don't get me wrong, I have many friends who do respect my choice, but I can't help to think how wrong it is for the society to "look down" on us.

Did you ever encounter such situations? I think those of us who live in a community where there are many women who chose to stay at home don't feel as much pressure, but in my area I know of very few women who do. This makes me more exposed to the pressure to conform into the working mother mold, as if caring for our children wasn't any work at all, or as if it is something to be ashamed of. Later they wonder why our children are so happy and well behaved. This is not to say that all children of working mothers aren't happy and don'y behave well because many working mothers do manage to pay a lot of attention to their children, despite of handling a full time job; I admire these mothers very much, but htere are some who cannot do both, and as a result, their children do feel uncared for because the child care providers just cannot do the mothering.

My heart goes out to these women who try to do both just because the popular culture says that they will be worthless if they become "house wives", and it has very sad consequences for their families.