Murphy's Laws for Moms

What labels someone as a stay-at-home mom? Are you a stay-at-home mom if you are also acting as a teacher while homeschooling your children?  Can you call your self a teacher when you're doing the same job - just unpaid - that someone in a school setting would be doing? Are you a stay-at-home mom if you spend numerous hours fulfilling volunteer work that helps fulfill an organization's mission?  What if you serve - unpaid - on a board of directors?  What if your ability to volunteer your time uses the education and training you received prior to becoming a mom but is now simply unpaid?   Are you a stay-at-home mom when you are doing the jobs and functions of an employee - cleaning house, cooking meals, doing laundry, etc.?  Yes, these may be menial tasks, but what if they replace the job that someone else could be getting paid to do? Are you a stay-at-home mom when you do anything but stay at home during the day in order to get children to ...

Over the past several days, my social media feeds have been filled with remarks either for or against Friday's comments by President Obama regarding stay-at-home moms.  I must admit, the only parenting topic on which I've seen more impassioned arguments is the choice to breastfeed or not.  The problem that I seen with all of these remarks is that they are truly arguments - never discussion on the greater topic.  And, the reason I believe this is true is because the situation (I won't call it a choice because for some parents it is not one) of staying at home is deeply personal and emotional.  So, how do we move beyond these arguments to truly understand the nature of staying home with kids?  Here are my thoughts... Staying at home to raise kids - whether it be the mother or father - is not a decision based on simply one factor.  If it were simply a factor of economics, then it would be easy :  If you need money, then you continue working.  If yo...