This article is funny and I see the point but, to belittle full-time moms doesn’t advance the role of women in society. We are beautifully suited to nurture little people and intelligent well-educated moms tend to raise interesting people (I guarantee my kid is the only one in her first grade studying ancient Mesopotamia at home).

The whole debate between women seems to miss the point. Our society should not honor women’s choices only if she chooses to compete in traditionally male dominated arenas. Those more traditional roles should be valued and respected as well so that skills unique to women are might be viewed are powerful assets.

My daughter has a 170 I.Q. She is two years old and already enrolled in a State accredited Kindergarten class. She speaks three languages when most cannot speak one at this age.

I have four children and another on the way. I hold a PhD and my husband an MD. All of my children have higher than average intelligence and are extremely socially adjusted. And listen you poor excuse of a writer; it was much easier to work as a Sr. Researcher for the Department of Defense than it is to stay home and ensure my daughter reaches her full intellectual potential. The idiots (more than likely similar to yourself), that teach primary school, have no idea how to school her.

Television has not been watched by me in over three weeks. My children are only allowed to watch an hour of educational programs a day as a reward for completing other tasks. We do not have a nanny or other family help. I am lucky if I can take a shower before my husband gets home.

Yes, there are stay at home women (as well as men) out there that gossip and are bumbling idiots. But by your post; you are no better than them. There are also women and men in the workforce that do the same.

It sounds as if you are suffering from too much exposure to people similar to your intelligence level. As a result of this exposure, you are desperately trying to release the associated tension, by venting on a population that you have no direct experience with.

In terms that you might understand….Step off and find something more productive than trying to slam defenseless mothers devoting themselves to their child. The end result: a child that doesn’t end up being a babbling idiot, posting unwarranted attacks, to a population they don’t understand.

When my first daughter was born I tried doing everything with her. I specifically remember gardening not going so well, as she would either cry when I laid her down on her blanket or cry because she didn’t like being strapped to my back while I crouched about pulling weeds. Also, art does not go so well with toddlers about grabbing art supplies and sometimes hands. Neither does anything requiring focused effort. Actually, almost the only productive thing I can do whilst watching my small kids (4 years and 18 months) is cleaning. And even that gets interrupted about every 10 minutes to get them something to drink or comfort the one who tripped or change a diaper or or or… I was shocked when I became a mom that this was the most physically and emotionally demanding job I had ever done but I had no intellectual or social network and didn’t get paid. It was a big transition.

I do have hobbies and marketable skills, but continuing to develop them has required hiring childcare. Maybe the kids will be more independent as they get older (things are getting better already, the first 18 months are the most intensive), and maybe if I had more in the future the older ones would help out, but babies are all-consuming little critters. I can see where a mom who still isn’t doing anything and her youngest kid is 10 might have a problem, but I think new moms should be cut some slack during those first few years of transition.

Exactly. There are a lot of people out there, male and female, who have careers but who are dead-eyed drones with no creative or intellectual pursuits outside of work. And, though their jobs might come with a high salary and lots of respect, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re using their brains more, or finding more fulfillment. Anyone who’s ever had a worthless idiot for a boss knows this is true.

So basically, what V is saying is true as far as it goes, but it’s part of a larger problem that involves people from all fields. I don’t see why a mother with no hobbies/interests outside her children is any less “feminist” than a businesswoman with no hobbies/interests outside her job.

I never saw V or anyone denigrate committed mothers, but there is a particular breed of moms who are more committed to the couch than their kids, and they use their SAHM status to avoid doing the things they are afraid to or unwilling to do. I know plenty of moms who manage to be there for their kids while pursuing outside interests and/or income. It’s entirely possible to “raise your own kids” and have a life at the same time. I feel sorry for the moms who turn up at school in slippers, but even more for the ones who make child servitude their “career.” Being a full time child-servant isn’t a “choice” for a feminist any more than beef is a choice for a vegetarian.

I feel so bad for the daughters of these women, and the terrible examples their mothers are giving them.

Yes, but people have successfully become prostitutes for thousands of years. They don’t need Feminism to do that, in fact, it was (and still is) the only choice for many women on this planet. Likewise, people have also sat around and got high for a very long time, and I’m sure that they did it because they thought it would make them happier than the alternative. Does that somehow make that the right choice too, or does it make them a loser stoner?

I never had anything negative about you until you failed to comprehend what I said. I actually loved your original comment.

Why not address the validity of V’s points, rather than siting her egocentricity and/or lack of writing skills as ways to degrade said points? Look past petty arguments and deal with the issue at hand.

Are some women wasting their potential by hiding behind a self proclaimed right, given to them by their reproductive organs?

I have no fucking clue. I don’t know any personally.