I've been hearing from a lot of stay-at-home moms, and sharing some of their letters with you. I got this one from a woman who is
not
a mother, but who has strong feelings about those who stay at home with their kids:
My grandmother was a homemaker. My mother was divorced, and raised us without our "sperm donor" father, because she chose to leave an abuser. She worked at a company at night, so that she could walk us to school and help with homework (I didn't realize the magnitude of this when I was young, but I surely do now).
I'm over 40 now, and don't have any children, and I work full-time. However, with every job that I've ever taken, I've always known in the back of my mind that it would never be a "career," because I would eventually leave to be a stay-at-home mom. So, I had to come up with something that I could do to generate income and stay at home: writing.
I haven't quite pursued my writing "career" yet. I watch pregnant women around my office leave, have their babies, and come back. Some of them are married, and some not. Either way, I am dumbfounded that they would not rather be at home all day with the baby.
I never wanted to have children as a single woman without a husband. First, because I didn't want to have to do everything by myself. As it is now, I hate taking out my own trash, and wished that I had a husband who didn't mind taking on that chore! And second, because each parent's role is important. They
both
matter and make a great contribution. It's what all children want: a mommy and a daddy who are together and care about each other. So, as I get older and my biological clock "explodes," I've never been tempted to do it alone, i.e., just have a baby because that's what I want.
Maybe one day, I'll have a MAN who loves to call me his "girlfriend." In the meantime, I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that I'll miss that joy of being able to stay at home with my baby and welcoming my husband home at the end of a hard day at work to provide for us.
