Lack of respect
By laurabeth
@laurabeth (145)
United States
March 21, 2007 10:39am CST
I am a work at home mom. I am an independent contractor, not an employee of a company. I feel like I get no respect from family and friends for what I do because I do it at home. I have 2 children, one in school one not. I honestly feel that I work more than what most work out of the home people do. I am a mom, a scoffer, a maid, a cook, a dog walker, an accountant, a gopher, the list goes on. I dont send my children to daycare like working parents do, so while I work I take care of my children at the same time, we are home all day so I have messes to clean up all day from the entire day not just after daycare/work messes. I still have to do the errands and bring kids here and there. I pay all the bills and manage the money. I do everything you do plus more! And yet I am always called to watch a friends kid "cause I am home all day" or run an errand "cause I am home all day" etc. How many work out of the home parents take there children to work instead of sending them to school or daycare? Or leave work mid day to run a friends errand? Where is the respect for what we work at home parents do?
1 person likes this
1 response
@vebela (310)
• United States
21 Mar 07
Personally, I have great respect for stay-at-home mothers, regardless if they are "working" out of their home or not. My father was a stay-at-home dad, and operated a business from the backyard, too. Kudos to you, for all that you do and being able to manager your time and structure your day without someone telling you when to clock in and when to clock out.
But, I also can understand people asking you to do favors for them, like watching a friend's kid, because the structure to their day is much more rigid. And, some people can't afford to take a lot of time off work, for fear of being fired or for fear of not brining in enough income to round out the month's bills and such. I know some mothers who work outside of the home after their kids go to sleep, and then still have a full day with their kids during the day. I can't fault any parent for these things either.
I know there's still a lot of debate about who deserves more respect...work-at-home parents or work-outside parents. But to me, as long as they're doing what they need to do, and as long as they're doing the best they can by their kids, I hold the utmost respect for all parents. Feel proud of what you do, and nevermind those naysayers. They don't know what they're talking about.
