Letters from Our Readers

I'd like to respond to Niki Smith's letter published in the Aug. 5 issue. I am not a stay-at-home mom but I empathize with you completely.

Let me first write that, based on your description of the offensive remark made to you, I can't conclude that that woman was being deliberately offensive. She merely said that she looks forward to getting things done when she doesn't have to work. If she has no children then, of course, she would have more time to get things done.

I am a working mother of a toddler and an infant. I greatly admire those women who make the sacrifice to stay home and raise their children. Although I have a very stressful job, I never worked so hard as I did while I was home on maternity leave.

It was like being on continuous 24-hour in-house call with no one to relieve you at the end of the shift so that you could go home. Unlike work outside the home, there is no evaluation or feedback from your boss or coworkers to say "well-done, good job."

Unless you have a lot of support during the day from other stay-at-home parents, the lack of adult interaction can be quite lonely. There is also little appreciation of just how difficult the job of child-rearing is and thus little appreciation for the help and support you may need.

Working outside the home while trying to be the best mother possible is also very difficult and stressful as it is like having two full-time jobs. However I would not necessarily say that being a "working" mother is more difficult than staying at home to raise your children.

When you take your responsibility of parenting seriously, it is a difficult but immensely rewarding job. I wouldn't trade the gleeful cheer of my toddler who has just mastered a task or blowing raspberries with my smiling infant for anything.

Anne Marie Brown
Peachtree City