Comments on: I Work*

By: M.A.G.

M.A.G. — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:44:26 +0000

hey, just found your blog through the michelle malkin post. i’m 24, raised by a full-time working mom, who worked in the office and nights at home too. i never felt neglected, or resentful. growing up, i thought my mom was the best mom ever, and i still think so. i’m so happy she managed to have a kid and a great job that she loves — she is a wonderful role model. not just because she showed me that you can work and have kids too, but because she showed me that it’s okay to be a mom, to love your children, and still have your own (grown-up) interests — that love is more honest and valuable that way. seriously, if she had been making me muffins and hot cocoa every day before school, i would have exploded.

By: Carol Ramsey

Carol Ramsey — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 02:59:18 +0000

Thanks for this post! I went back to work a few months ago and this was the hardest part – the unspoken, underlying feeling that the Best Moms Ever don’t work.

But, I’m being the best Mom I can be, regardless of what the rules are for the Best Mom contest and I’m better when I work.

Thanks again for your post. This is why I read blogs.

By: sine

sine — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:00:37 +0000

Just because we’ve been brainwashed to feel like we have to be stay at home moms doesn’t mean it is in our genes. You must do what makes you happy and you will be a better mom. Do you think your kids will begrudge you that you didn’t clean the toilet the day you interviewed Obama? I don’t think so!

Happy moms raise happy kids!

By: owlhaven

owlhaven — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 05:39:19 +0000

I think that part of my guilt over working at home is that I get tremendous satisfaction from my writing. Yes, it is work– but I love it, which in the back of my mind somehow equates with playing, not working. And then of course I feel guilty for ‘playing’ instead of remembering to remind the 3 year old to go potty, or scrubbing my baseboards, or playing XBox with my 10 year old. I mean, I DO all of those things sometimes. But those things have also sometimes fallen by the wayside as I write.

So. yeah. I could relate to this post.

Thanks for sharing!

Mary, mom to 10

By: mothergoosemouse

mothergoosemouse — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 04:53:25 +0000

You’ve hit so many points here that resonate with me that I’ll just have to give you a virtual high-five and then write my own post (crediting you as inspiration, of course).

By: Diana

Diana — Sat, 31 May 2008 11:37:35 +0000

Oh how I could have written those exact feelings. Why is it so dirty to work? I LIKE working, I do!

By: Caroline

Caroline — Fri, 30 May 2008 20:07:18 +0000

I finally found your blog! I love your posts everywhere else I read your stuff, so I’m glad I’ve come to the source.

I just want to say I completely and totally hear you on those evil evil mommy guilts. Its a horrible affliction and I suffer from it regularly. I hope you find peace and self-forgiveness (is that kind of a word?) somehow, somewhere in the vast grey area known as “working motherhood”. Does it help you when you hear that you are a better mom when you work because you are happier doing something productive and rewarding for yourself? I have heard that it can help to hear that. As a SAHM, I love my kids, but really reeeeeally miss my brain – I pine for it daily, in fact.

(And so funny you post about this topic as I was just working on my own demons about going back to work – I am sort’ve flipping out about the entire concept.)

Again, I wish you peace and happiness at work AND at home as you smack that guilt stuff upside the head.

By: Kelley

Kelley — Thu, 29 May 2008 09:09:24 +0000

Meh. That super mum (I am Australian so don’t do ‘mom’ sorry) image is over rated. Those chicks are all popping their kids Ritalin anyway…

No one can do it all. And guess what? You have the best of both worlds. Someone else to do the mundane red shirt hunting and you get to work doing something you love AND be the mummy.

Awesome I say.

But personally, I would have gone with a male nanny. Bit of eye candy for the mumma. “um would you mind picking up that pen on the floor for me?” Boo-yah!

By: Jan - queenofkaos

Jan - queenofkaos — Thu, 29 May 2008 01:41:07 +0000

I wish that I had a Mary Poppins when my kids where younger and I was working at home, it would have been the responsible choice rather than falling short at the things I should have been doing because I couldn’t possibly do it all myself.

Or I should have better balanced my work with family, although I always thought my super human efforts would be temporary, which they ultimately were, and so were my young children – 2 of them are teenagers now and the ‘baby’ is a teenage wannabe.

Or maybe I should have not been so proud and utilized the help of my mil.

Oh, and I should someday lose the mommy guilt for trying to do it all, my kids are each one of them quite awesome. It didn’t come easy. :0)

By: Kami Huyse

Kami Huyse — Wed, 28 May 2008 22:00:13 +0000

Guilt, what guilt? Okay, I am off to Care.com.