Absinthe & Cookies (a bit bitter, a bit sweet)

You have got to be kidding me. I'm a stay at home Mom. I was a Mathematician for a Fortune 50 company for 12 years before we made this choice for me to stay home. I find that article to be truly one of the most offensive things I have ever read. I think I may find it more offensive than John Kerry, and that's pretty damn offensive.

I read the following and think: we have no private universities in Canada. At all. I am connecting the dots...

"It's not enough to battle the corrupt ideas – that's the easy part. We've got to go further – much further. It's time to pull the plug on the gravy train that funds them at nearly every public college and university in America today."

Hmm: I see a lot of "mystery ellipses" stuffed into Ritter's quotes, a lot of Farah telling me what Ritter said instead of quoting her directly, and, most damning of all, no link to the original piece. Something doesn't smell right with this one.

I mean, if I saw a Republican quoted in the New York Times like this:

"Full-time mothering is ... bad for children," she insists.

. . . my BS detector would hit red alert, you know? I need to see what's in-between "is" and "bad" before I make up my mind.

Ilyka, I found the original article and I excerpted some of it here.

The assumptions that Ritter casts into stone really bother me.
1) She assumes that life ends when your kids graduate high school, I guess, because she allows no possibility for someone having a fulfilling life as a stay-at-home mom and then pursuing her career full-time after that.
Heck, if you do nothing but have kids and have the last one by age 30, your last child will cease needing mothering sometime before you turn 48...leaving you with between 20 and 60 more years of life to pursue career, hobbies, friends, love, etc.
2) She assumes that if there is a mom at home, the dad will never lift a finger to help. Maybe that's true in some cases, but I work full time, my wife doesn't, and I assure you I still have plenty of opportunities to change daipers, make meals, discipline and play with the children.
My wife is usually tired after watching the kids all day; our deal is I get to be in charge evenings and weekends...sure, I'm tired from work, but at least it is a change of pace for me.
Ritter's inflexible view of stay-at-home mom's is public enemy #1, in my book.

I would consider myself a strong feminist, very dyed-in-the-wool.

That said: my mom stayed at home. Having her at home was a lovely blessing and I wouldn't change that. Because she was at home, we fostered a great relationship that consisted of more than a glance over meals. She found out what was interesting to me, and she took me to places to further my interests...museums, concerts, etc.

Also, now that I am a "grown up" not only do I have stay-at-home-mom friends, but also stay-at-home-dad friends! And they're great and they love their "job". I do think we need to encourage ANY parent who wants to stay home to do so...and that's not confined to one gender.