Letters to the Editor
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Total 180
I always find this subject interesting, maybe because my experience and outlook is a little sideways. I was a stay at home mom for nearly 20 years. After my 4 children were nearly grown, I finished my college degree and went to work full time in the IT field.
The mothers described in this article are exactly the mothers I remember as friends and acquaintances. They loved telling themselves and one another how motherhood was the 'hardest job' ever. Complaining and kvetching on how hard they had it and how the working women & the rest of the world does not understand their scarifice. I didn't believe it then and still don't.
Stay at home motherhood is a luxury and like luxuries, are to be enjoyed. I loved the easy summer days gossiping at the pool, watching my children practice for dance recitals and going on family vacations. I did what I wanted, when I wanted. I was the master of my household, and the children took on activities with my approval. My husband was absolutely no help, but I'm easy going enough and it didn't bother me at all.
Now, as a woman with a professional career and all my children grown and gone, I find this new lifestyle lacking and disappointing. I cannot emphasize enough that expecting a person to do same one thing 40+ hours a week is cruel and maddening. At work, I am expected to write code hour after hour in a cube farm with the people who has got to be the dullest on the planet. It is rewarding to see the end product, but truthfully, doing housework on my schedule, having time to read, watch old movies and especially being with my children everyday was so much more fun.
O well, no one at home now, so I might as well go to work and make some money. I am good at what I do, and I do know how good I have it. I had it both ways and afterall middle age is about change.