Midweek Musings - "Grass is greener for that other mom!"
A mom blogger recently shared her feelings about how she took a break from her career to be a Stay at home mom (SAHM) to her toddler and how she was looking forward to the day she would resume her career some day, when the kid grows older.
ME - I've always been a working mom. It was never an option for me to take a break from work. There was never an option to choose being a SAHM. From a working mom's perspective, the daily juggle and maintaining the work life balance can get overwhelming at times, and there are days when I wish I did not have to deal with WORK.
So, while reading this mom-blogger's post, all I could think of was how she had the privilege to even MAKE A CHOICE to stay at home. I would be lying if I said I wasn't jealous of this woman who gets to spend so much quality time with her kid.
I was consumed by my own perspective and my deep underlying mom guilt of not having enough time in a day to spend with my kids. (They are never satisfied even if I spend all my waking hours with them).
I got the opportunity to have a quick chat with her. She so very gracefully explained her position and her point of view - "For many families, the cost of childcare may be more than what a parent would earn in a year. So the most obvious choice for them is to have one parent stay at home with the kid." (Yes - there are a lot of stay at home dads too!)
This made me think hard - Is this really in a position of privilege? What is the privilege here?
- Moms who MAKE the choice to pause their career to become SAHM
- Moms who have no other choice but to be a SAHM
- Working Moms who cannot give up their careers/jobs to be a SAHM and juggle both.
Any path we take, any choice we make - each has its own challenges. All we can do is try our best!
P.S: no take-aways from this. Just a working mom's midweek musings.
