Mommy Wars

As more women switch sides, moms on both sides of the issue should by empathetic.

Much has been written and debated about the relationship between stay-at-home moms and working mothers. In Mommy Wars, Leslie Morgan Steiner suggests that both groups should appreciate each other and their contributions for the greater good.

Miriam Peskowitz fueled the debate in The Truth Behind the Mommy Wars, which brought to light a simmering disagreement between working and non-working moms.

Every few months, someone throws baby oil onto the fire by writing a book or a magazine article or appearing on national TV claiming that stay-at-home moms/working moms are best/worst/the ruination of the human race/the best thing since sliced bread.

For me, that’s where this issue stays: in the national media, which is about as far from my front door as you can imagine.

I’ve been on both sides of this debate – I worked full-time with a child in day care, and then I stayed at home with three kids, for many years not working at all. I think I may be quite typical. In the lifespan of a family, it’s not unusual for the mother to work, then quit to stay home with the kids, then go back to her career at some point.

As a stay-at-home mom, I’ve been in neighborhoods where I’m the only parent at home during the day in a stretch of houses. Sure, I’ve done my share of pick-ups from bus stops and carpooling, but I never felt I was taken advantage of, certainly not by my working counterparts.

Every now and then an attitude sneaks into a conversation, a chip shows up on a shoulder. But for the most part, in my neck of the woods the Mommy Wars are in peace treaty mode.

Are the Mommy Wars real? Have you ever been on either end of a sniping, jealous, spiteful, backstabbing battle between stay-at-home moms and working moms?

Let us know, in our Mommy Wars discussion.