We all are raising our kids

This morning I was listening to the Slate Political Gabfest podcast and they were talking about Ann Romney and Hilary Rosen and the whole "she never worked a day in her life' hubbub. And I was struck by how the journalists were talking about 'working moms' and 'stay at home moms'. Over and over in the media and online I read that stay at home moms' jobs are raising their children. True.  But as a working mom I am raising my children too.  Working parents are just as integral and responsible for the nurturing, education, and welfare of their children as parents who are 'stay at home'.  As I stated in a previous blog post, we are all working parents.  And we are all also parents raising children whether we spend 18 hours a day with them or 3.

Being a good parent is as much about quality as it is about quantity. I'm tired of the mommy wars and the double standards where fathers get extra pats on the back for just showing up.  Being a mother is hard, no matter how you spend your days.  We all are doing our best to raise smart, healthy, happy children. 

So here's my take away: think about how you talk about other parents, especially mothers.  There is so much subtext in those little phrases. "She's just a stay at home mom." "She went back to work just six weeks after the baby was born." "How can she have time for her kids, she's always working?"