Blame it on a Working Mom. She's an Easy Target.
The headline was enough to draw me in: "Our nation's future depends on mothers who stay at home." Just what I needed, another social conservative to blame us working moms for all that ills society. But I had to read on.
Columnist John Nash of the Hernando Today in Florida contends that the majority of us liberated ladies only work because we want to avoid the "most difficult, largely thankless" task of raising children. He says this is our "natural" job, not the one at the office.
(He obviously never saw me browbeat a politician who misspent public dollars, or forced a public servant to explain why he thought it was OK to spend taxpayer dollars on lobster dinners.)
Mr. Nash surmises that only 3 percent of mothers really work because our families need the money. The rest of us do it to further our careers or escape "the heavy responsibilities and tiring workload of the home and hearth."
Well, I'm certainly not going to argue with the "tiring workload" part. Right now, I'm downright exhausted. But I'd hazard to guess that a lot more than 3 percent of us work to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table - particularly in a state like New Jersey, where we have the highest property taxes in the nation.
I wish I could have stayed home a little longer with my son, who turned 19 months today, before I went back to work on a part-time basis. But we weren't able to save enough money for that purpose and pay adoption fees.
I guess we could manage on one salary, if Mr. Nash thinks that would spare my son from antisocial behavior down the road. But then how could we save enough money for our Hendrick-Needs-a-Sibling account? Adoptions can be pretty expensive.
Maybe I should tell my husband to get out of journalism and get a higher paying job in corporate communications. Maybe I should tell him to sacrifice his ethics, leave his calling behind and go make some real money so I can stay home.
I don't think that would be very good for our marriage.
Unlike Mr. Nash, I am not convinced that a woman's place is just in the home. Does he really think we can find fulfillment by keeping house and caring for the kids all day, every day, year after year until the kids graduate high school? I guess he's not concerned with our need to find fulfillment and a sense of self-worth beyond the front porch.
I thought the late Betty Friedan helped clear up this kind of thinking a long time ago.
Here's the link to the column:
http://www.hernandotoday.com/columnists/MGBXL0Y9S1F.html
Columnist John Nash of the Hernando Today in Florida contends that the majority of us liberated ladies only work because we want to avoid the "most difficult, largely thankless" task of raising children. He says this is our "natural" job, not the one at the office.
(He obviously never saw me browbeat a politician who misspent public dollars, or forced a public servant to explain why he thought it was OK to spend taxpayer dollars on lobster dinners.)
Mr. Nash surmises that only 3 percent of mothers really work because our families need the money. The rest of us do it to further our careers or escape "the heavy responsibilities and tiring workload of the home and hearth."
Well, I'm certainly not going to argue with the "tiring workload" part. Right now, I'm downright exhausted. But I'd hazard to guess that a lot more than 3 percent of us work to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table - particularly in a state like New Jersey, where we have the highest property taxes in the nation.
I wish I could have stayed home a little longer with my son, who turned 19 months today, before I went back to work on a part-time basis. But we weren't able to save enough money for that purpose and pay adoption fees.
I guess we could manage on one salary, if Mr. Nash thinks that would spare my son from antisocial behavior down the road. But then how could we save enough money for our Hendrick-Needs-a-Sibling account? Adoptions can be pretty expensive.
Maybe I should tell my husband to get out of journalism and get a higher paying job in corporate communications. Maybe I should tell him to sacrifice his ethics, leave his calling behind and go make some real money so I can stay home.
I don't think that would be very good for our marriage.
Unlike Mr. Nash, I am not convinced that a woman's place is just in the home. Does he really think we can find fulfillment by keeping house and caring for the kids all day, every day, year after year until the kids graduate high school? I guess he's not concerned with our need to find fulfillment and a sense of self-worth beyond the front porch.
I thought the late Betty Friedan helped clear up this kind of thinking a long time ago.
Here's the link to the column:
http://www.hernandotoday.com/columnists/MGBXL0Y9S1F.html
1 Comments:
Perhaps women cannot find fulfillment from being a full time at- home mother; but that is not the purpose of staying home! The purpose of staying home to care for young children because children need to be nurtured and cared for. If adults(male and female) do not feel that they can selfishly give of themselves in order to care for their children, then they should not become parents! Many parents have no intention of caring for their children, just having them and showing them off for special occasions. That is wrong.
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