You're Not The Boss Of Me

Recently, news anchor, Elizabeth Vargas, from ABC, took a step back from her hectic career to take some much needed time to stay at home with her growing family. Unfortunately, she has taken some heat for this decision. It seems that no matter what mothers do, there will be critics judging them for either returning to work or staying at home to raise their family. The last generation had simple, clear-cut answers. It was a given that that moms would most likely leave their jobs to stay home. The womens' movement changed everything for us and not necessarily in all good ways. Leaving are children to have fulfilling careers outside the home seems selfish to some, but a basic necessity to others. Either way, we are damned if we do and damned if we don't. Personally, I took another route and decided to work part-time with the stipulation that I am home for my children when they are home from school. I have made sacrafices in this regard. My job is neither fulfilling personally or financially, but I have the satisfaction of knowing that my children get my attention when they need it most. On the other hand I cannot fault any mother for wanting or needing to either work full-time outside the home or to be a stay-at-home mom, a much more demanding job. As mothers, we must learn to look for the common threads that bond us together, rather than the things that make us stand apart. Like it or not, we need each others' support and empathy because any way you look at it, raising children is the hardest job we'll ever have and the one we were least prepared for when we took it.