To keep things clear for future conversations, here are 3 important things to know about "Mothers Who Work":
1: Every mother is a working mother.
Mothers work inside the home and outside the home, they earn money directly (with pay) and indirectly (supporting a partner in his;/her paid work). Barring a few aberrations here and there, there is no such thing as a non-working mother. Consider: A ‘stay at home mom’ is a ‘working at home’ mom.
2: Every mother is a full-time mother.
Whether or not she works outside the home, and whether or not she works directly for pay, a mother is a mother all the time. A mother doesn’t take time off from being a mother while she is working at a paid job. Consider: No school nurse waits until mom is home from her paid employment to call the mom and tell her to pick up her sick child from school.
3: For families with means, the opportunity for either parent to work at home as a full-time, primary caregiver is a privilege made possible by economics.
Very few parents "get" to stay home. It is possible only for parents who have some economic support. At the same time, and in an almost contradictory way, having a parent staying at home enables the other parent to be fully employed, since so many jobs are predicated on having some besides the employee being responsible for "managing" the family.
Any questions?
Photo of his mom by S. Bennett.