Mother of the Year Award

I won't know for sure which Mom will win the Reward until I see all the responses to this post. At this point I am still not sure which Mom is deserving of it. There are other aspects to consider. You and I both know that Life is not always fair!

martuicha here in southern Ca we have horrendous rents for lousy two bedroom apartments for 1300 dollars a month so yes a lot of moms who would rather be home with her kids works too just so they have a good place to live, we cannot pitch a tent and live like that in urban California for goodness sakes. so she sends her kids for one hour to her neighbor it would have been nice if the working mom paid the not working mom for that hour or two. but really we do not know all the circumstances of this one mom. maybe she did deservce the award!!!!

Hatley,there are no other circumstances to know.She sent her kids down the street to stay at that other mom's,which is fine,even if she couldn't afford to pay........but she never ASKED her if it was ok or not! I live in northern Virginia and some 2 bedroom apartments are about $1,300 also,but that is usually plus most or all of the utilities,that cost about $200 a month.For the past year and a half we have been stuck in a small room,with a small bathroom and kitchenette for almost a thousand a month.We pay $170 a month for storage to keep our things in.We also pay high prices for laundry. But,I have NEVER sent my kids to someone's house to play,so I could go make money or do any thing else for that mater without asking that person first,not my mother,any other family member,a friend or a neighbor.Mater of fact my daughter is 14 even when she is at a friends house I will not leave my home with out asking the friends parent if it is ok with them and making sure that they have my cell phone number in case their is an emergency.. How did she even know if they were going to be home every afternoon? What if one of those kids had got sick or hurt?

mommyboo,I agree with you and barehugs,I don't see where it is difficult,the lady was rude and not being responsible.

It is rather difficult to make a judgment between these to women in this circumstance. We don't know if the working Mom was working by choice or if she was in need. Perhaps the babysitting Mom was doing it because she loved Kids, who knows? I think the Mother of the year award should go to the Mom who best provided for her kids! Now which Mom was best at that?

The whole situation seems like there are things missing. IF there were an agreement made between the two women, perhaps both of them would be deserving, but from the story you told, it seems like the working mom just expected her children to figure it out for themselves. I am assuming they were too young to be alone unsupervised, so neither were at least 11 or 12 years old. She also was quite HAPPY the mom who was home happened to take her kids in, but I still say she shouldn't have expected it. That is not fair. Between close friends there are understandings.. I have a few friends I would take their kids any time, for any reason, as long as necessary, but some person who lived on my street that I didn't know whose kid(s) just came home with my daughter and then informed me their parents were at work? Heck no. I would have to make arrangements ahead of time that would work for not only me but also my husband and my daughter - if I were not going to be available to get her after school. It would have to be reasonable costwise (or childcare traded), not too much time, and somewhere safe and fun that she liked. It would have to be with someone I had spoken with and spent time with and trusted. I just don't get how careless some people seem to be with their children. Don't forget, providing is comprised of much more than just the one part. Ask a kid what they want... $100 shoes or more time with a parent.

Exactly,why have kids if you are not going to be a responsible parent.

OH my! Imagine living at McDonalds! The kid might have been Super-sized by the time his parents returned home. I don't blame you for suggesting to his parents that they raise their own child!

barehugs, That was far from intelligent! That was not a safe haven! How would she even know if they were gonna' be home everyday? A safe haven is a after school care at the school or a babysitter that she gave medical information for each child to and her contact number. mommyboo is correct,it was not that other lady's respondsibility to make sure that those kids had their homework done. Mother of the Year award should not go to someone who is intelligent anyway or in her case being a sly fox and showing her children how to be sneaky to get something for free..It should go to someone that is respondsable.

The point of this Post is not That the reward was given, but That the working Mom was chosen, and the payment(or lack of) is only a part of the story. I wasn't directly involved in the conversation so I could not clarify the details.But, I smiled when the story was told, because I immediately felt that the Babysitting Mom, had missed the point entirely! It seemed to me, looking at the Big Picture, the working mom was entitled to the award because she was the Mother who Best Provided for her children! She had a Job (to better feed and clothe them) she guided her kids to a safe haven after school,where kids were safe and happy, and their homework done before she arrived home. How intelligent is this? Although this woman was a bit slack in the humanities, in my book, she won of the Woman of the Year Award quite honestly!

I disagree.... why would the working mom be ENTITLED to anything? It doesn't seem like she ASKED or made arrangements with the other mom, not at all. In fact, reading your original post, it looks like the kids just went over to the other house with a parent at home because they were friends with the kids and knew their mother wasn't home. It wasn't the other mom's JOB to do homework with the kids, and I might even say it wasn't her job to look after them. If I found out a child was going home alone and there was no supervision, I probably would do something, but also high on the list of priorities would be to talk to the parent who wasn't home to find out whether we could make an arrangement. I would never just arbitrarily decide to be responsible for someone else's kids just because they felt like being... not there. I don't see any reason to reward or give someone props for doing that. If someone works, it is up to THEM to arrange care for their children or anybody else they are responsible for. It is not up to other people to just NOTICE they have a need and pitch in without being asked, without being appreciated, and without being thanked. I thought that was terrible.

You have a very Kind Heart, my Dear Hatley! I'd trust my kids with you any day! Would you help them with their homework too please? All kidding aside now, I know all about the high cost of living nowadays, and perhaps the working Mom would have been very happy to stay home and care for her kiddies if she could have afforded too.

I still think they should have discussed this ahead of time before anybody's children just 'went home' with someone else. It really irks me to think that there were no arrangements made. THAT is why people get angry, they get taken advantage of by people who don't even appreciate it. As much fun as kids are, it is not a stress free thing. I LOVE having my friends' kids and they are a lot of fun, but sometimes it's very tiring. I have a friend who was taking care of her neighbor's kids too because the neighbor had the same situation - the kids got home from school an hour or two before she got off work. I guess the kids were at the park after school and it was horribly hot - this was back when it was still summer... late August. My friend asked the kids and they told her their mom wasn't going to be off for another hour so they were told to stay at the park, or walk home. The walk home from the school for these kids was at least a mile, probably nearly 2. When my friend started picking them up and driving them home and then told me sometimes she had to wait 15-20 minutes for all of them to come out and then they'd sometimes come over to her house because their mom wasn't home and it was starting to get on her nerves, I told her she needed to talk to their mom about about. Again, that's why I said mutually beneficial. People should not expect other people to just pick up their slack. They should ASK. Lots of people are totally willing to help if they are ASKED, but it's completely different if someone thinks 'oh, she's at home, she's not busy, she's not doing anything, she won't care.' You know... because just because you're home doesn't mean you have nothing to do or that you want extra things to do dropped on your head.

Really,just because I am home that doesn't mean that I want company that I have to take care of at the drop of a hat and no warning.

Well the part of the story that explained where the reward came from was never broached. Perhaps the Chamber of Commerce or even the School, who knows? I'm wondering what the working Mom did with her kids when her free babysitter stopped babysitting? The working Mom just Killed the Goose that Layed the Golden Eggs.

Lets just say the working mom was lacking in a few areas! Nobody's perfect you know! She could have said "Please and Thank you," and been perfect. She came so close its just a shame, she failed.

That's right,life is a joint effort.We do not earn our rewards in life alone.You do need to remember to thank everyone. For instance,lets say you own your own small business,I hear all the time how people say they built their business up by themselves...NOT! They couldn't of done it without the banker approving their business loan,the supply companies for giving them their products,the phone company for giving them phone service,the clerk that worked helping you out while you were out or busy doing something else. But,most of all God deserves all the rewards because He made all this happen.

Yes, pat! You said a mouthful there! It takes more than one to make a world! Obviously the award winning mom did something right in the eyes of the awarding organization. If only she had thanked her good neighbor she might have achieved an even Greater Reward!

That lady was not asking for a reward for watching kids that are not her own.She was being taken advantage of which was disrupting her family life and household.That lady didn't even ask her if she could watch her kids they were basically dumped on her.

You just made a good point there, bird! The volunteer mother was far from perfection herself. Obviously she wasn't bothered much by helping her neighbors kids with their homework, but as soon as she heard that the other Mom had won an award, she went nuts with Jealously and immediately told her off. How many brains does this take?

The side of the story outlined here, serves the purpose of this Post quite well! The question asked was,"which Mom deserves the award?" I must say, both Moms were good Mothers, but in different ways. I still smile when I think of the babysitting Mom going up the street to tell the working Mom off. It seems to me she missed the mark by a wide margin!