Recently my mother-in-law brought my son to school and saw there was a sign-up sheet for a field trip. So she signed up my full-of-energy father-in-law, who would love to chaperone. Lucky for me, I was able to take time off work to go with him. Usually these things are at the end of the month and it’s close to impossible for me to get off work.
The day of the field trip was so exciting for my son and I because mommy never gets to enjoy going on field trips with him. When we got to school, he went into the classroom and I waited outside with the other moms for the kids to line up for the school bus and for the instructions from the teachers. As I was standing there, I began to feel lost and lonely like a little kid again. All of the moms were in their groups chatting to each other and completely ignored me. The teachers came out and gave us instructions and two moms started to gather who was going to ride in their cars so we all didn’t have to take cars. I was left out of the car pool. I was the only mom left out to drive by herself. Maybe it’s because they didn’t know me. I was the working mom who didn’t show up to school in the morning and afternoon to pick up her child; the in-laws did.
Finally, we got to the destination and I was back with my little buddy. Seeing his happy little face made me forget about how shallow some people can be. While we were in the field trip attraction, I did have some moms talk to me and things actually started to feel better. Then I met (well, lets call her) Brenda. Brenda walked up to me and said, “Now, whose mom are you?” I told her who I was and her response to me was, “Oh, you never come to these things.” How rude can someone be? I responded by saying, “No I sure don’t because I work, but I am here today and that is what matters to me.” She had no response and called her child’s name to escape from the conversation.
It really bothered me that someone would actually have the nerve. I don’t see why the working mom should be looked down upon. We are strong women—mommies, wives, sisters, and friends trying to do the best thing to support our families. Sometimes we are blessed to stay home and be a housewife or a housemom, but sometimes we can’t. For that, we should be praised and others should be thankful that we are actually supporting our families and not neglecting them. I hope that as the times are changing, people will start to appreciate the working mom.
