A Mother By Any Other Name

I have been coming across several articles about ‘full time mothers’ and ‘working mothers’.

I am not a mother but these two terms confound me and I have only one question to ask. How can anyone relegate mothers to two different judgemental baskets? A mother, no matter how she chooses to mother her children is a ‘Mother’, nothing more and nothing less. 

In my limited circle of friends there are women who have chosen to stay at home with their babies and women who are employed. Staying at home or being employed should not matter to third party viewers such as us. Both those situations must not take away from the status of a ‘Mother’. Instead of valuing the heart-warming efforts with which each mother brings up her child, we have become a population that tells one mother that her ‘mothering techniques’ are not as good as other mothers. I believe it is time we let mothers, especially young mothers, be the mothers they want to be.

In my view, every mother is a full time working mother irrespective of being at home or working eight hours a day. All those people who write articles weighing mothers need to realise that being a mother is a full time job that does not pay. Mothers have a tough job to do and most of them wake up long before sunrise and are able to rest only when their children and husbands are quite fast asleep.

At work, I am witness to the daily apprehensions of the mothers I work with and I know that leaving their precious babies in the care of nannies is a leap of faith. This is their choice and they are fine with it. On the other hand, I also have very close friends who have chosen to care for their little ones by being around them all day and all night. This is a choice they made and they need not be judged for it.

All these women are smart, smart enough to know what their choice entails. While for a few it means staying away from their children most of the day, for others it means foregoing an income. But all these women agree with each other that no matter what their situation in life, they are all full time working mothers. I hope the world one day learns to see them the way they see themselves because a mother, by any other name, is still powerful.