Reply #17: I, for one, avoided that thread [View All]

[populistmom]

As someone who choose to be a mom, while if I had it to do over again, I would have been more careful and not have gotten pregnant in the middle of college like I did, but on the other hand, I do not regret not working and working part-time with under school-age children either. If I was to ever re-marry and have more children, even if I was 40 or 45 by then and I'm sure working full-time for years by that point, I would still do my damnedest to be part-time for the first 3 years because it's something that, for me, is very important. That does not make me stupid or mindless or content with being barefoot and pregnant either. That's why those of us women, who are at home, and do have half a brain feel like shit sometimes because we are looked upon as somehow less than.

On the other hand, if working full-time with children, or not having children is your choice, I don't look down upon you. Why is there still this name-calling and disparagement of motherhood? Why is when women who have children want decent maternity leave, flex time, or even "gasp" things like social security benefits to accrue, they are told by other women (who call themselves feminists no less) that they should simply not have children? Why can't women support each other?

One more on edit:
I should add this is a VERY sore subject for me because I left another forum a year and a half ago that I had been involved in for 5 years because I could not stand the SAHM vs. WOHM fights anymore (where me, as a part-time working mom, felt in a weird "can't win" limbo). I see all sides, I see the big picture, and understand it all. I just should keep my mouth shut on these threads.