Aren't we ALL "working moms" - and who came up with these titles anyway???

This blog was originally published on 5/12/2007

The phrases "stay at home mom" and "working mom" really bug me. After all, aren't all us moms working? It really is just a matter of how many jobs we have. To me the implication is that if you are a mother who is not working at a job outside your home and family, then you are not actually working! Ha! Excuse me? It's right up there with the phrase "working class". Implying if one doesn't fall into a certain income bracket, designated by the government, then one is not actually working for their income. What other job requires a person to be on duty 24/7 including holidays? Is it just me? Not only are they grossly misleading, but they promote divisiveness.

The last thing mothers, and women in general, need is to be judgemental and unsupportive of each other's choices when it comes to caring for themselves and their families.

I repeat: all moms work. I think we need to come up with some other form of reference that doesn't make one set of moms feel, inferior, guilty, or judged by the other. Some mothers work revolves strictly around their family and home, others revolves around family, home, and an additional outside job or career. I don't believe one way is superior over the other, just different approaches. Both ways have been proven to produce happy, healthy families.

I would love to come up with some more appropriate phrases for our different categories of moms who are all working almost all the time! Loree