Being a working mother has its laundry list of difficulties what with trying to juggle work and office duties with your child's needs. Not only do you have to make sure your kid is properly cared for, but you need to make sure you're staying on top of your responsibilities at work and sometimes these two things clash. So to make things a little easier on working moms, why don't we all pledge to stop making the following grrr-inducing comments?
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Valerie Williams of Mommyish.com created a list of things that no working mother wants to hear and we're sure many of you WAHMs have been on the receiving end of these at some point.
- "I could never leave my child at daycare." Williams points out that this reeks of "holier than thou" attitude and is so insensitive to those who have no choice but to leave their child in someone else's care. Kudos to you if you don't need to or if the grandparents have been generous enough to scoop up that responsibility, but not everyone has that option.
- "It would be nice if you spent more time in the classroom" or requests to be more involved in their PTA or sports teams. Spoiler alert: this another guilt trip source. Moms would LOVE to spend more time with their kids, but teachers and coaches need to understand that there are only so many hours in a day and so many vacation days in a year. Perhaps they'd rather save up those comp days for emergencies or a legit family vacation and leave those volunteer positions for parents with more time and energy to spare. Note: whether one works from home or an office or is a stay-at-home parent does not mean one type of parent is better than another so we need to stop comparing and recognize all the different ways we can parent a child.
- "You need to come pick up your sick child from school." Imagine being in the middle of a board meeting when a call comes in from your child's school saying he's sick and needs to go home. Absolute dread! Not because your child did anything wrong, but because you don't want to come off as a slacker at work if you need to suddenly take several days off to care for your child.
- "Don't you miss your child while you're at work?" Do people really think moms go into heartless robot mode when they clock in? I'm sure most moms are at their desk trying to blaze through a deadline while fighting off worries and feelings of guilt about how their child is doing in daycare. It's of no help whatsoever when others ram into them about spending enough time with their child. Not everyone can afford to just stay at home while someone else brings home the bacon. And if she does have a choice, did you ever stop to think that maybe she enjoys having her career? Her life and ambitions didn't stop when someone started calling her Mom.
To read the entire list of things you shouldn't tell a working mother, click here.
Imagie via Thinkstock
