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Working Woman? I'm Good

Why it's okay to be a stay-at-home mom

By J.C. MariePublished 7 years ago 3 min read
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I am a millennial woman. I am a feminist. I have been allowed the chance to attend school and continue my education in college and eventually grad school. I am allowed freedom of choice in all decisions in my life, from who I date, where I go to school, and where I currently live. I have been allowed some of the greatest freedoms available to women in all of history. So why do so many people judge me when I say I want to be a stay-at-home mom one day?

Throughout my entire life, I have known I want to be a mom. When my friends would talk about how they wanted to be doctors or teachers or dancers I simply kept my mouth shut or made up an answer. I knew what I wanted to be: a mom. Yet I had been told time and time again that it wasn't a real career and I needed to have bigger ambitions. I was led to feel as if I couldn't make such a huge decision about my own future.

When I was a child I would insist I be the mom when my friends and I played house. I had a million babydolls that I cared for like they were my own children. I began babysitting the first chance I had, and I charged ridiculously low prices because I wanted as many jobs as I wanted. I wasn't in it for the money, but the opportunity to engage with children as much as possible.

When high school rolled around I knew I needed to pick a future career since mom wasn't an appropriate answer, so I chose elementary school teacher. This eventually morphed into high school English teacher, which eventually morphed into not being a teacher at all. The more I thought about being a teacher, the more I realized I didn't want to be teaching other people's children; I wanted to be at home, taking care of mine.

Being a mom is, in my eyes, the greatest, most important, and most difficult job in the entire world. Anyone who says differently can just shut their mouth because they obviously don't know what they are talking about. As a mom you are responsible for teaching your children values and morals. It is your job to help them grow as an individual and find their true self. It is your job to teach them how to respect their fellow human beings. It is essentially your job to facilitate their growth in nearly every aspect of life. How is that not important and beautiful? How is that not an ambitious, worthwhile job?

A lot of the flack women who want to be stay-at-home moms is from feminists. However, as a feminist myself, I would like to challenge this. The point of feminism is to bring equality to men and women. That includes equality of choice. I know I have a wealth of options before me. I know I can be a doctor or a teacher or whatever else I want to be. And I still want to be a mom. I still know deep in my soul that is the job that will bring me the most satisfaction in life.

Yes, for a long time women had no choice to be a stay-at-home mom, but that is not the case anymore. Women have the ability to choose just as men do, and I choose motherhood. If you still think you have the right to degrade my choice, that is on you. But I know I am undertaking an important job that will bring me endless satisfaction and joy.

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About the Creator

J.C. Marie

J.C. is a graduate student who enjoys music, love, and cats.

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