Well, it seems you have found the secret to a golden career selling books by the million and luring in listeners to your radio show – be one-sided and controversial. Get your face on every TV show that will take you and tell them how you know you are right because you lived both lives – as a career woman and as a mother. Tell them how you can separate the two, but other women should not because our children need us, especially in the first three years of their life.

The thing is, Dr. Laura, I don’t disagree with you there. I think children need us for the rest of their lives and we should always be accommodating. I think the mother-child bond transcends all others. But I believe the father-child bond is just as important, and that both parents can be providers for their families as well as caregivers for their children. I want my son to grow up supporting his wife’s decision whether she wants to stay home fulltime with her children or juggle motherhood and the career she’s studied hard for. I want my son to see that mothers can become doctors and CEOs and even presidents of great countries and still be devout caregivers to their children. I want him to understand that when he becomes a parent that his role in raising a child goes beyond bringing home a paycheck and being the great disciplinarian. He, too, should be a nurturer.

You see I’m not only black or white. I’m somewhat gray. I applaud those women who choose to stay home with their children and are fulfilled doing so. I tried to do that, but I’m not programmed that way. My desire to write again overwhelmed me, and my husband and I found a way for me to split my time between staying home with our son part time and writing the other. Those “other people” with early childhood degrees who have been “raising” my child the other part of the time have helped me socialize him and educate him in ways I could never do on my own.

Do I feel fulfilled as a woman? Yes.

Do I feel like my husband’s girlfriend? Always.

Do I feel like I have touched the soul of my kids? Every day.

And what about those mothers who have no choice but to work in order to feed and clothe their children? Are they depriving their kids? You say that every woman is capable of choosing her hours of work so that she can sandwich her job during her child’s school hours, but how realistic is that for a woman flipping hamburgers making minimum wage who is thankful for whatever hours she can get? Especially in this day and age.

But no, Dr. Laura. You’re always right, aren’t you? You hold yourself to a different standard than the rest of us, and want those of us who disagree with you to feel inadequate as a mother. Well, shame on you, Dr. Laura. Shame on you.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Photo, Amazon

Post from: Blisstree

Shame on You, Dr. Laura

I stayed home, because if I didn’t try and get as much rest as possible – this thing that I have, would never leave my body.  So I stayed home, and tried to sleep it off.  When that didn’t work I took some advil, and an amazing amount of water- forced myself onto the sofa, and watch old movies.  Thank goodness for movies, since I can’t seem to do television these days.

This situation, has gotten me to think about people with CFS who stay home.  People, who either choose to not work, or are not able to work.  It’s not easy.  I go stir-crazy after a few hours of being home.  I am frustrated with myself, because I am not able to stand up for more than 10 minutes at a time.  Even making soup  is out of the question, unless the Campbell family gets involved.

I need to be able to work for my own sanity.  Whether I should be working or not is not a pertinent question.  I am not able to stay home.

Would the quality of my physical health, be better if I did stay home? Perhaps yes, perhaps no.

In my personal situation, not going to work would do me harm mentally, socially, and emotionally.  I have tendencies to retreat into my own head.  If I took the job out of the equation, I think that agoraphobia might start to apply to me.  In no way, am I saying that agoraphobia and CFS are connected.  Just that it may apply, in my own case.

There is really no real point to this post. Just to say, that sometimes I forget what its like to live with the day to day struggles of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.  And having little setbacks, such as an annoying cold (plus), brings back a reminder of what the fight is about.

Post from: Blisstree

Reminders Are Always Such Great Lessons