by Leah Curtis

Created on: February 16, 2009

After I had my daughter, I hated going back to work. I loved being with her, watching her grow from a tiny baby to an infant to a toddler. I felt sick at the thought of someone else getting to see these changes while I was at work. I did not hate my job. In fact, my employer allowed women to take a ten-month pregnancy leave, with four of it unpaid. There were not many employers around at that time that allowed employees that benefit. In addition, the company transferred me to a branch fifteen minutes from my home so I did not have the forty-five minute commute that I normally had before I had my child. None of that mattered. I wanted to be home with my daughter.

I had a job that paid extremely well at a company that was difficult to get a job at. Still, I wanted to be at home. I had seen so many women leave after their first or second child and I never once heard anyone say, "She should be at work". Many women return to work because they have jobs that they love, others return for financial reasons and others return because they feel they might be bored at home all day. That is okay. Any reason a woman has to go back to work is her business.

I really do not feel that moms who stay at home are pressured to return to work. I think moms who stay at home are lucky and I applaud them. They are lucky to be able to watch each milestone their child attains. Lucky to be able to help their child get dressed in the morning instead of rushing around and missing the joy a child takes the first time they put together an outfit of red socks, purple pants and the flowered shirt Aunt Sarah brought her back from Florida.

Raising a child is the most important job in the world. It is also a twenty-four hour a day job. It doesn't end at 5:00 pm. Children need to be watched all of the time, not just for eight hours a day. Raising the next generation of children should be looked as a job. I really do not understand the big push to get women back to "work". A woman will have to pay someone else to look after child and how ironic is that? Someone has a job looking after your child so you can go to work.

Most of us consider raising children a job. At least they do where I come from. All women who have children are moms, some work outside the home and some work at home. All mothers (and fathers as well, but that is a different topic) should take pride in the work they do. When anyone asks if you have a job tell him or her yes, you do. You are a mother.

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