Their shared experiences have gotten me thinking about motherhood. One of my biggest dreams is to be a stay-at-home mom. People typically feel shocked when I share this with them. Why? I think we have succumbed to a modern myth that teaches motherhood is a lesser vocation than a professional career or ministry.
This subtle myth appears behind comments like, "I'm just a mom," or "Look at those mom jeans!" The resulting mom stigma propagates the idea that stay-at-home moms are simply women who couldn't make it in the "real world."
This lie has a bit of truth in it; after all, almost any woman can become a mom, regardless of education or experience. Furthermore, getting to stay home all day sounds easy. No alarm clock, no schedule, no impatient boss, no deadlines.
However, I argue that not every woman has what it takes to be a good mom.
The truth is, being a good mom is incredibly challenging. I think G.K. Chesterton says it well:
“To be Queen Elizabeth within a definite area, deciding sales, banquets, labours, and holidays; to be Whitely within a certain area, providing toys, boots, cakes and books; to be Aristotle within a certain area, teaching morals, manners, theology, and hygiene; I can imagine how this can exhaust the mind, but I cannot imagine how it could narrow it. How can it be a large career to tell other people about the Rule of Three, and a small career to tell one’s own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone and narrow to be everything to someone? No, a woman’s function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute.”
I greatly respect my own mother and friends who are defying the modern myth of motherhood. And while I won't be a mother for a while, I'm looking forward to the challenge.
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