Weary Working Mamas

Weary working mamas of the world unite. We have nothing to lose but our mommy wars. 

Ok, so I might have stolen that line from a rather controversial writing, but I feel it fits our current cultural issues in motherhood. For instance, when I say "working mamas," I mean ALL mamas. Work-at home mamas, part-time working mamas, single mamas, work-outside-the-home mamas. Because, let's face it, whether you're a career mother or a mother with an additional career, we all work, we're all sometimes weary, and we're all trying to balance hectic lives, expensive bills, and contradictory parenting advice. In our insecurities, we tend to belittle those who have made a different choice than our own because our culture is so extreme. We ridicule stay-at-home moms for "wasting" their education and career moms for choosing work over family. All you have to do is piddle around on Pinterest to stumble on evidence of the mommy wars. (Images above are a case in point!) 

The mommy wars these days are becoming more and more frenzied. Cry-it out? Co-sleeping? Potty-train at age 2 or age 3? Gender neutral colors or cave to our gendered world? Princess battles? Is your little boy "all-boy" enough? You let your child eat goldfish? You only feed your child fish-sticks and peanut-butter? How do you have time to make your own hand-sanitizer? You haven't lost your baby-weight yet? Moms, put on that swimsuit and get in the picture! You only read 3 books a day to your child? You're pushing your child too quickly to learn spanish! Recently a weary mama wrote a hilarious parody of conflicting sleep advice over at Huff Post Parenting. 

The point is, being a mother is hard, whether you stay at home or work elsewhere. Being a healthy mom is even harder. I just cannot get my daughter to eat many vegetables. All she wants is processed food, and I mean, can I blame her? What little, developing taste-buds wouldn't want Pop-Tarts over broccoli? So I'm trying to learn feasible, reasonable methods of making healthier choices for my family and for myself. 

That's why I'm writing this blog. As I've recently quit my teaching job and started a new career (which inquiring minds can read about under "About Me"), I'm realizing how constantly stressed and anxious I was in my former life. My challenge was mommy guilt over missing time with my child, work-guilt from pushing back grading, personal guilt from neglecting exercise and health, and marriage guilt from having so little energy remaining for my husband. Let me tell you, that was a lot of guilt. While the grass may seem greener staying home, and I'm thrilled with my choice, I still face challenges: sometimes I miss "head work" and adult conversations. I often fear my daughter is bored with me. I still don't have time for much laundry and house work because I am, in fact, (and contrary to my old judgement of stay-at-home moms) busy all day wrangling my toddler. I still struggle to make healthy choices for myself and my family each day, whether those choices involve food, finances, personal products, relationships, or time on social media.

With a fresh perspective, I now realize that all mamas are busy, working mamas, whether they work from home in network marketing like me, have professions outside the home, or work to raise three kids, keep the house clean, stay in budget, and somehow find time for personal development and exercise. The genesis of this blog is finding more balance in my life, and while I'm researching, I figured I'd write about it. 

So, working mamas of the world, let's unite. Looking forward to learning alongside of you.