Oprah Weighs in on Stay at Home and Working Moms

Ok, I admit it! I am an Oprah-aholic! I catch every episode I can of the Oprah Show! Recently, Oprah aired a show on the stay at home versus working mom debate, which was absolutely brilliant! It was called My Baby or My Job, and it brought to mind several memories about my own experience as a new mom.

My daughter was born this past year, and all my life I had dreamed of being a stay at home mom. After all, my mom stayed home with me, and my husband's mom stayed home with him, so that is what moms did, right? I have friends who work, and I thought they were foolish, or even wrong, in choosing to work when their children were small. (Before you start yelling at your computer, keep reading!)

When my daughter was born, I suffered a serious bout of postpartum depression. I hated just about everything there was about being a mom. And what shocked me the most was how desperately I missed my job as a teacher. I thought being a stay at home mom would be the most fulfilling role I would ever have, but I hated it! Staying home all day without adult contact made my depression deepen.

I found that the only thing that kept me sane as a mom was going back to work! At first, I felt guilty about working while my daughter was at her grandma's house, but after the first two weeks back in the classroom, I realized that I was actually a BETTER mom because I had a job! What a job gives me is a reason to get up in the morning, put on clothes (other than my pajamas), do my hair and makeup, and feel like an adult. I choose to work only part time, and it is enough to keep me sane. But what really changed when I became a working mom was my attitude.