Confession

I’m a bit confused why this caused such a big fuss, but it did.

A friend asked for one sentence confessions, so I said “I want to be a highly educated mom when I grow up.” What is so controversial about that? I have no idea. What is wrong with the world that it is necessary to defend your choice to stay at home and be a mom? Why is wanting to be a mom such a strange confession? And why is qualifying it by saying I want to be a highly educated mom such a strange qualifier?

I am currently working on a Ph.D. When I finish I would be prepared and qualified to teach at the university level and do educational research. And who knows. I might end up doing that.

But I’d rather be just a mom.

Which then sparked a whole other controversy when one person said there’s no such thing as “just a mom.” Yes, there is. If you take it in context. In this context it means that I don’t want to be doing anything else. I’m not one of those people who wants try to work and have a family at the same time. I don’t need my business card to say “mom, professor, researcher…” I just want it to say one thing, “mom.”

Yes, I want my degrees. Yes, I’m proud of the work I’ve done to get them and with them. Yes, I enjoyed my time teaching elementary school. And yes, I’d enjoy being a professor and researcher.

But if I get the chance to be a mom, I’ll do just that. And I won’t care what other people think about it. But I might stop every now and then and wonder why they think it is such a big deal.

(highly educated and with my mom)