By Nikki Phipps
Women are seen everywhere in the workplace today, from retail stores to CEOs of corporations. But even though we have finally been allowed to assume leadership in the workplace and pursue our dreams, there is still controversy over the traditional role of motherhood. Women choosing to work outside of the home may still hear slurs from others, deemed as selfish and uncaring. Yet, stay-at-home moms are oftentimes thought of as lazy and unmotivated. It seems to be a difficult situation either way; nobody wins. Whether you choose to work somewhere else or not, motherhood is a gift and a job to cherish.
It isn’t easy, especially when juggling two jobs—like motherhood and office executive or mother and waitress (you get the point). Although I have worked outside the home, I have also spent years as a stay-at-home mom and wouldn’t have it any other way. I have had the fortunate experience of spending precious time with my children during their earliest years, but I felt guilty for having doing so simply because I couldn’t help provide anything financially. I felt as if society had ostracized me for choosing to stay with my kids. I have also experienced the aching feeling inside from having to leave them each day so I could go to work, once again feeling guilty but this time for not being there. But either way, motherhood is a job to cherish. We may stay at home with our children or we may leave for work; we are still mothers, and we still love our children. We are still working with no time off.
We handle the most trivial of matters, the endless bickering over petty things. We make decisions for who watches what, who sits where, and who washes when. We referee fights and chastise name-calling, finding ourselves amazed by their ability to create elaborate words while lacking simple behaviors like self-discipline, manners, or common sense. Walk into any home, working mother or not, and you are sure to hear, “Mom, so and so hit me.” or “I’m telling!” Chores are a mother’s favorite, with the majority (if not all) of day-to-day tasks falling within our lap, working or not. Laundry is always fun, especially with more than one child. We dust, we vacuum, we mop, and we cook. We run them back and forth, from doctor and dentist appointments to practices, ball games, and sleepovers. There is homework to be completed, baths to accomplish, bedtime stories to read, at what time we must also handle the sudden outbursts of thirst followed by bathroom breaks. We do all of these things, working or not.
Since there doesn’t seem to be any right or wrong to a mother’s traditional role, I am comfortable in knowing that I can do both, without any guilt. Fortunately, I now work from home, allowing me the opportunity to be there for my kids whenever they need me. Even though it gets tiring, trying to juggle it all, I thrive on making sense and order out of this chaos. There are times when all I want is to sit down and relax. Heck, there are times when I just want to be free, on a deserted island somewhere. I suppose once the clothes have piled knee deep, the supper has not been cooked, and the house in total disarray, and there’s no one to take them anywhere, I might be noticed as MIA (mother in absence). In the meantime, however, I’ll continue working and I’ll continue mothering, finding a happy medium between the two. Motherhood is a job to cherish; I’m a work-at-home mother, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.