Comments on: Are Working Homeschoolers “Working Moms” or “Stay at Home Moms?”

By: rima

rima — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 02:08:20 +0000

i think the whole concept of “mommy wars” is pretty ridiculous. I’m glad this article points out the hard work “working from home moms” do.

By: JessGray86

JessGray86 — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:15:21 +0000

the war is just people playing on each other’s insecurities

By: Obi-Mom Kenobi

Obi-Mom Kenobi — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 23:59:29 +0000

HeeHee
When I think of getting a part-time job, generally after a long day at home, it’s often something along the lines of filing or transcribing - because then I’d get to be alone for a little while. One woman’s pleasure is another woman’s pain, I guess.
Obi-Mom Kenobi’s last blog post: We would be honored if you would join us - again.

By: Sam @ babyREADY

Sam @ babyREADY — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 23:56:46 +0000

As a homeschooling mom (children are 11 and almost 8 and have never been in a “formal” school setting) I have always parented first and worked with my clients second. I am blessed to work with new and expectant couples and so they are often excited to meet my family when I have situations where my children accompany me. I don’t what category I fall in to. My work is often done outside of my own home. I am very lucky to be self-employed and to have so much time with my family.

Love this article. Nice to see a fresh, new light shed on an old and tired subject. I agree. Let’s put the “Mommy Wars” to bed.

By: Tammy

Tammy — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 23:35:44 +0000

“Work” can have many meanings. But for the purpose of this topic and this post, it means receiving money as a result of some effort.

I have been all three - working full time, staying at home w/out a job, and working and staying home at the same time. And I can say with absolute certainty that they are all different experiences. Not that one is better or has more value than the other, but they are all different.

And when I talk about meaningful work, I mean to differentiate between being paid to do mindless paid work that we don’t enjoy (for me would be filing or transcription) and doing paid work that we look forward to and get personal satisfaction from.

I’m not even a “work at home” mom, because when I get paid, it’s usually for something that I’m not doing at home. But my kids usually come with me when I do it. It’s been that way for a long time. So which am I? A work at home mom or a work out of the home mom? A working mom or a stay at home mom? I’m all of those.

It’s a curious how it’s impossible to label it. And I think that’s a good thing. It’s also a good direction to go, IMHO, for women.

By: Jake Aryeh Marcus

Jake Aryeh Marcus — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:33:44 +0000

I use “WOHM” or “WAHM,” meaning “work out of house mom” or “work at home mom.” Otherwise we are attaching harmful values to what is and isn’t work.

Jake Aryeh Marcus’s last blog post: What to Do When a Woman Breastfeeds Near You on an Airplane

By: Obi-Mom Kenobi

Obi-Mom Kenobi — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:09:39 +0000

Even the very words used here though “meaningful work” and “satisfying work” could be said to suggest that paid work is somehow “higher” than non-paid “family work”. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think you really mean that, I’ll even go out on a limb and say that I KNOW you don’t believe that, but our very vocabulary about work suggests that there is a culturally assumed superiority for labor (physical, mental and emotional) that is paid versus labor that is unpaid.

My mom was of the Get Out of the House generation and was initially appalled that I left a career and financial independence, that I “turned my back on my degree”. But it seems our generation is on it’s way to “making the turn” to realize that there is no One Right Way, no One Path for All. I have friends (male and female) who are home-makers, who work at home, and who have worked full time (plus) since their kids were 6 weeks old. We’re all well-adjusted, social, bright people and devoted to our families - and best of all so are our spouses and our kids.

I agree; it’s time to end the Mommy Wars.

Obi-Mom Kenobi’s last blog post: We would be honored if you would join us - again.