Irritation

The goal of this blog has never been political. However, after watching all the talking heads this morning, I can't help but weigh in a little bit.  People are up in arms about this CNN commentator talking about how Ann Romney never worked and then bending over backwards not to offend stay at home moms.  I must have heard 5 or 6 people say this that stay at home moms know the price of gas, milk, and eggs better than their husbands.  Ok, fine....but I'm going to guess that working moms also know the price of gas, milk, and eggs better than their husbands.  My thought is "Really, the self esteem of stay at home moms is so fragile that we have to throw working moms under the bus?"  There is absolute value and honor is staying home to raise your children.  I think that the women who have that opportunity are aware of the hard work it takes and the toll it takes on them.  That being said, will someone please recognize that being a working mom is not easy either?  It's not as if we drop our children off and don't think of them all day.  I think about my children all day long.  If they are sick or hurt, I have to make arrangements to go get them.  When my child care is unavailable, I have to make other arrangements.  My sick days are not used for me, they are used for my children, so if I am sick, I still go to work.  I still have to get the same amount of laundry, cleaning, and work done for my children.  Can this argument about who has a harder time just be put to bed?  Raising children is a challenge, no matter how you do it.  This is a tired argument, and I am sick of being made to feel like the bad guy because I go to work.  And to have it thrown into a political arena?  Great, Ann Romney stayed home with her five boys.  And she probably had a housekeeper and a nanny to help her.  I don't think that her experience is quite the same as the working class family with three kids whose husband earns just enough to pay the bills and put food on the table.  Ann Romney may sit on charity boards and lunch with the ladies at the country club, but I'll bet she wasn't the mom racing in to help with the Valentine's Day party late because the baby threw up on her on the way out the door, or the mom who has to fight with the insurance company to make sure her special needs child has the medical attention they need while keeping the kids from drawing on the walls.  If Mitt Romney is going to try to run for president, he and his wife need to do a better job of connecting with the middle class, and not use being a stay at home mom as that tool.