The Question Every Working Mother Hates To Hear

One comment that burns me to my core is "I would LOVE to be able to stay at home all day and just hang out with my kid". How dare you! I will never get why some people feel the need to say stupid crap like that. I usualloy come back with something extremely sarcastic and mean, but it's a reflex. A stupid comment deserves a snarky comeback. Right?

I agree with the "Silence is Golden" response. We all as moms have our own personal reasons for either staying home, returning to work, or both. Everyone's life is different and no one should be made to feel guilty by someone else for the the choices they made. People are very imperfect, and also very opinionated (sometimes not a good combination)! So hit the ignore button in your head and move on : )

Love that response! Can't we just get over already and live our own lives? Rise above, ladies! Rise above!

I'm a WAHM after being a SAHM then a Working outside the home mom for a while. Let me tell you, they all stink in their own special way.

If you're a SAHM then people wonder what you're doing with all that "free time." If you work outside the home then "you're missing so much." If you work at home then people assume (including your kids) that you're still available for errands, volunteering during the school day, etc., and you feel guilty because you actually do have work to do.

I think that the criticism is more about the insecurity of the criticizer than anything else. People who are happy with their decision on how to spend their days don't worry about what other people are doing.

We also can't ignore that in general, American society pays a lot of lip service to how being a mother "is the most important job there is" but doesn't really believe that when it comes right down to it. It's not just women making the snotty remarks to each other, men do their fair share. I'd be willing to bet that every SAHM has heard "Well, what do YOU do all day" from their husbands when they ask them to help with the kids when they come home from work.

One week before I “left” my infant to go back to work, a neighbor said: “You’ll realize you can never pay someone to give your child what only you can give her.” Fast-forward a few years after doing the stay-at-home thing and a woman said to me: “Don’t you feel like you’ve wasted your education?” It sucks to be on the receiving end of criticism from either side, until you realize some people are just idiots.

I love Marinka's response.

I am a SAHM but I totally respect your point, and I'll be honest, SAHMs can be anal! I have a child with autism and I can tell you that the question I HATE to hear is, "Did you vaccinate?" Translated by every autism mommy as "Did you do this to your kid?" I think I feel a blog post coming on....

That response pretty much does it. And if anyone wants to trade with me here, I'd LOVE to leave my kids in order to work. Today anyway.

Marinka, you are the Goddess of Snark.

Oh I just love you Marinka, truly the victim here :) I personally wish I would get these questions - great for blog fodder and practicing snarky comebacks.

A-freakin'-men!

Brilliant, as always.