It's a Mom-Eats-Mom World Out There!

Being a stay-at-home mom is a full-time, 24/7/365 kind of job. There are no healthcare benefits. There is no vacation times. There is no pay. That is, there is no pay aside from getting to watch your child grow and learn and experience the world.
So, as woman and men choose to stay home with there children for an array of reasons from being  more cost effective to simply because that's what families want to do, why are they being scrutinized for it?
It is a big, sacrificial decision to choose to leave the nine-to-five and take up the full time, all consuming role of Mommy. After years, sometimes decades of working you are suddenly thrown into a world where a little person reigns king. Your boss is selfish, demanding, impatient and sometimes, down right violent.
This person is your baby.
For every "good" emotion like love, compassion, devotion and patience there are about a dozen "bad" emotions like jealousy, hate, inferiority and guilt. These emotions work against us and cause us to make decisions that we may not normally make.
In an article dated April of this year, a Boston publication printed "The Nasty, Backstabbing, and Miserable World of the Suburban Mom" the author talks about a high-end society clique of moms that is ruled by the ruthless Queen Bee.
The mothers described in the article seem like something out of the work of fiction. Beautiful, rich, moms that send their kids to all the "right schools" and collaborate playdates, and girl's night outs and BBQs. The group where all the husbands are friends and go play golf together.
Who's life is actually like this?
Being a stay-at-home-mom if far too time consuming to worry about a regular playdate, let alone the "right one." In reality, it's a good day if you do laundry, fold AND put it away. There are days when the baby is clean and dressed, but Mom may not be.

The day is jammed packed with cleaning, scraping, wiping, changing, playing, walking, running, chasing and yes, sometimes crying (from you, of course). It could be four o'clock in the afternoon before you realize that you are still in your pajamas. And not the sexy ones either.
In response to the Boston article, another stay-at-home-mom poses the question: Why do stay-at-home-moms hesitate to tell people that their job is taking care of their children?
The answer, according to this writer, is it's because there is a culture in the United States that belittles and even scrutinizes women for staying home with their children. There is stigmatism that says that stay-at-home-moms don't do anything all day. Comments like, "It must be nice to sit at home all day with your baby."
In truth that's a loaded statement.
While, yes it is nice to "sit at home with your baby all day" (when in reality there is very little sitting involved) that statement implies that it isn't extremely difficult to be at home with a baby all day. It is real, hard work with very little rest and few immediate reward.

Unfortunately, this does not only come from the random Target cashier who doesn't realize the sting of their comment. It comes from other moms who do work. Strangely, as another mom, you would expect them to understand how hard it is to take care of a small child on a 24 hour basis. Instead of banding together, some moms attack others and try to belittle and shame them.
Have confidence. Being a stay-at-home-mom is a 24/7/365 job with very little rest and no pay. Staying home with your child is what works for your family. This way, you don't miss one smile, one tear, one laugh, one sleepy sigh. There will be no worrying about who is attending to your child. Although it's an extremely busy, hard, frustrating job, it is the most rewarding.