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Stay-at-home mom's letter strikes a chord

Letters from Our Readers

I'd like to respond to Niki Smith's letter published in the Aug.

5 issue. I am not a stay-at-home mom but I empathize with

you completely.

Let me first write that, based on your description of the

offensive remark made to you, I can't conclude that that woman was

being deliberately offensive. She merely said that she looks forward

to getting things done when she doesn't have to work. If she has

no children then, of course, she would have more time to get things done.

I am a working mother of a toddler and an infant. I greatly

admire those women who make the sacrifice to stay home and raise

their children. Although I have a very stressful job, I never worked so

hard as I did while I was home on maternity leave.

It was like being on continuous 24-hour in-house call with no

one to relieve you at the end of the shift so that you could go home.

Unlike work outside the home, there is no evaluation or feedback from

your boss or coworkers to say "well-done, good job."

Unless you have a lot of support during the day from other

stay-at-home parents, the lack of adult interaction can be quite lonely.

There is also little appreciation of just how difficult the job of

child-rearing is and thus little appreciation for the help and support you may need.

Working outside the home while trying to be the best

mother possible is also very difficult and stressful as it is like having two

full-time jobs. However I would not necessarily say that being a

"working" mother is more difficult than staying at home to raise your children.

When you take your responsibility of parenting seriously, it is

a difficult but immensely rewarding job. I wouldn't trade the

gleeful cheer of my toddler who has just mastered a task or blowing

raspberries with my smiling infant for anything.

Anne Marie Brown

Peachtree City

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