The fascination with Sarah Palin comes not only from her unexpected rise, but also from the fact that she is a mother of five, with one child under a year old. While Palin seeks the vice presidency, one of the most demanding jobs on Earth, more than 40 million American moms also balance jobs with motherhood. Do working moms have the best of both worlds, or are they potentially neglecting their children's best interests?
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Do Working Moms Put Their Kids at a Disadvantage?
This is terribly unfair
I think its terribly unfair to assume that a working mother is not also a full time mother. Or that a mother who works and does not still devote all she has to her children would somehow morph into a good mother if she didn't have to work.
Working mothers give just as much to their children as stay at home moms, we just are doing twice the work because we have a job outside the home as well. Any mother who is not giving their all for their children is not going to give her all to her children no matter what her employment situation is.
I wish more than anything I could stay home with my child, as I'm sure many women do, but its just not financially possible for me, as it's not for many women. Furthermore, every mother needs to have her own time, her own space, her own life, at least a little bit, or she is going to compromise her relationships with her children and other loved ones. For many women, that bit of their own space is their job. Constant self sacrifice is not good for anyone's health, physically or emotionally, and a physically and emotionally unhealthy mother is much worse for children than a mother who works. To say that a mother who works is harming her children is exactly like saying a mother who has a hobby is harming her children, or a mother who goes on date nights with her husband is harming her children.
My son comes before my job, always. I work because I have to in order to feed my child. Even if I could quit my full time job, I would still work a part time job in order to maintain a bit of self and sanity. But my child will always be my top priority, and I will always give him all the love and nourishment he needs and wants. Any woman who does not put her child first is mentally ill, and would not put her child first whether she works or not.
And I agree that this is terribly sexist. What about working fathers? What about stay at home fathers? I believe a stay at home dad is just as good as a stay at home mom.
- jessimonster
December 23, 2008 10:02AM
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