From a Working Mom to a Stay at Home Mom:

*Before I begin.  I want everyone to know that this is in no way directed at any ONE person, whatsoever.  I have read MULTIPLE blogs lately that triggered this.  It has been weighing heavy and today, I'm letting it out.  I have many SAHM friends, whom I absolutely adore and would do anything for.  So please do not make assumptions! XO*

First, you are amazing.  Your day, every day, revolves around the children you chose to have, chose to stay at home with, whether it be because you simply cannot afford childcare, cannot see sending them off to any one stranger (or not a stranger at all), or because you feel that is what God wants you to do.  I applaud your willpower, your dedication, your messy houses; your days in PJs, your days running errands, your days that you just simply cannot  keep going because you are exhausted in every aspect.  You deserve rest.  You deserve recognition.  Your kids have the best kind of care out there: their mother, home, with them.

Working moms too though, deserve recognition.  My question is why society is still trying to see or prove who is better, more selfless, more strong willed.

Many of us work because we HAVE to.  Between car payments, mortgages and rent, utilities, student loans, past due credit cards, extremely high water bills - we have no choice.  Yes, we chose to have those things.  We chose to have cars and houses and go to school (or not, because I didn't finish, but I do have those devil loans to pay). 

Some of us enjoy work.  We take pride in contributing elsewhere in this world; sharing our good heart and empathy with others; communicating with adults who have kids and work, too.  Others wipe stranger's asses for a living or waitress tables to unappreciative, bitter old men.  I, personally, fight the fight against unemployment fraud.

Some of us are single.  With no child support in a one bedroom apartment with two kids and a crazy work schedule that absolutely drains us. Who, may or may not, need help from the governemt.  Who are then put in the "why did you have kids if you couldn't take care of them  yourself" catagory.  When many of them don't abuse the system at all, and as soon as they can, they will be cutting up those food stamp cards.

With working away from our kids also comes mixed emotions.  I dread every single day, only seeing my children for twenty minutes in the morning, before I drop them off at our (wonderful) sitter's house and kissing them goodbye for 10 hours, 5 days a week.  I look forward to picking them up, but quickly remember that dinner and baths take up the majority of our time in the evenings because bed time comes incrediby too fast.  I HAVE to have a schedule to make it work.  My kids have a 8pm bedtime because, if not, I get nothing done around the house, don't get a shower myself, and will never get to bed in time to get at least 7 hours of sleep.  I know I will not make all of their softball or baseball games, I know I will not be the "room mom" when they are in school, and that breaks my heart.  Then there is my awesome, even more selfless, busting-his-ass husband who literally has not seen his kids in 4 days because he works from before the sun comes up to after their bed time more nights than not.  When my 2 year old points at the garage door, or hears a car door slam, and immediately yells for Daddy, I usually break his heart because it is rarely him home before 8.  My 4 year old has to wait until Friday evenings to share all her creations at school with him, and tries so hard to remember every detail of her week so she can relay the excitement to him.

With BOTH of us working, it is hard.
With ONE parent working, it is hard.
Being a SAHM, it is hard.

The end.