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Until three years ago, I've always been a working mom. I was able to work during pregnancies and toddler years from a home office where I did marketing communications design for big companies like Sears and Amoco.
It had it's usual set of challenges including times when a conference call collided with a cranky toddler, but I worked through it all.
When my children started school, I needed outside space so I could hire staff and let my business grow. During this time, I still took my daughters to school everyday and my husband was home when they got out.
Everything seemed manageable until those glorious high school years where I can honestly say that all hell broke loose. When I came home during the day to retrieve a left cell phone and found strange teenagers in my house, I realized that something needed to be done.
It was a hard choice. I loved my job. I only had two children and an active partner, but in order to make sure that my children came first. I sacrificed my career by selling my business and staying home.
At first my children were resentful. With a working mom they had come to enjoy a lot of freedom. Freedom that could have led them to make very bad choices and had already led them to let their friends make copies of our house keys.
However, they adapted. They learned that it was nice to know that mom could volunteer at school. This sounds like a lecture, but by using my choice as a Feminist, I could do what I thought was best for my family.
Not everyone has the choice to stay home, and not everyone wants to do it. Sarah Palin may be able to raise five children with a high profile job and possibly be ready to run our country. Her daughter might have gotten pregnant even with mom at home. I had to decide whether to run my own business or help guide my two teenagers through some difficult years. I chose the later and I have no regrets.
No one can judge someone else's choices, but it is implausable to me that this mom can really do it all.
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