Amy Glass Should Take a Walk on the Other Side

In her article “I Look Down on Young Women With Husbands and Kids and I’m Not Sorry” Amy Glass questions motherhood and career women and whether these roles are equivalent.  In her article she asks “Do people really think that a stay at home mom is really on equal footing with a woman who works and takes care of herself?”  Her response is “these two things are never the same.”

Before my days as a “stay-at-home mom” when I was young and carefree and focused only on me and my schoolwork and my career, I thought much like Amy Glass.  After jumping into my luxury vehicle, I would fly off to the nearest coffee shop on my way to class, after dropping my oldest off to Pre-K, and would scoff at the stay-at-home moms with their perfect clothes, hair, teeth, and trendy strollers.  These ladies always appeared so stressed out and I couldn’t (for the life of me) understand why.  After all, they only had to roll out of bed, put on make-up, look pretty and sip coffee while their children attend circle time or whatever the latest fad was for young children.  At least that is what I thought. 

What I didn’t know was that life would happen and I would be in the same shoes as these very women I turned my nose at and would quickly learn that being a “stay-at-home-mom” (a term I still loath because of the negativity associated with it) was no “walk in the park.”  I did not roll out of bed, put on make-up, look pretty and sip coffee while my daughter’s attended circle time or whatever the latest fad was for girls their age.  I struggled out of bed, made meals, play dates, activities, and birthday parties while struggling and worrying about losing my identity and my future as a career woman.  There were many sleepless nights where I would lay in bed constantly worrying about whether I would ever be the “old” Kelli again. 

Now, that I have returned to work and have been on both sides of the fence, I remember to smile at these women and am grateful to my own mom who gave up plenty to care for me and my siblings - Thanks mom!  While I think Tucker Carlson calling Glass “another boring entitled rich girl who’s frustrated with the emptiness of her life” is extreme (I can’t speak for her personal life), I do think her article screams ignorance and inexperience.  

I am truly a believer in  our 1^st amendment and having the right to speak freely,  but I think before Amy Glass can discuss the equality of the roles women play -  she should first take a walk on the other side of the fence and experience what it is like to wear a different hat as a woman.  Because she might be surprised at what she finds out.  At least I was.