My Old Wives Tale

I've decided that Mother's Day should last longer than one day. It's a spiteful decision, so I guess you could say that I feel that mothers get the short end of the stick sometimes. Lets talk about this for a little bit.  It started when I watched this video about Mitt Romney. You may have seen it on my facebook page. Basically, in the speech he encourages a group of (predominantly Mormon) graduates to make their lives meaningful. He gives a list of ways to do so; marriage, children, service, and hard work were all on this list. He was then criticized quite harshly for being a religious fanatic and all sorts of other things. It got me to thinking about how moms, and particularly stay at home moms, are perceived in the world outside of my little bubble. What would these very harsh critics have to say about me and the choice all SAHMs make?
Here is the list I came up with:
-Moms have the most important job in the world.
-but, mostly, doing your best in the workforce is the most important job in the world.
-SAH moms aren't really contributing.
-women are powerful, strong, and just as smart and deserving as men. Just look at every woman who isn't a SAHM.
-SAH moms are selling themselves short, and aren't achieving their highest potential. This choice diminishes women and is not to be encouraged.

    I realize that if you are reading this, you're probably not thinking any of these things. Who would honestly have this opinion?! No one, right?  But, sometimes I feel like people perceive motherhood the same way they do eating lots of fruits and vegetables without sugar or cheese on them. 
    "Yeah, of course it's really good and makes our bodies more healthy, yadda yadda yadda."
    "Being a mom is so great, blah blah blah."
 Am I the only one who feels like this? It's like people say one thing and feel another.  If people truly thought that a woman actually could achieve her highest potential by being a SAHM, then why is it so absolutely and threateningly discouraged? Why is it completely unacceptable for a public figure to speak to a group of people and talk about how motherhood is a wonderful and important lifestyle choice? Encouraging girls to aspire to being SAHM has become so abhorrent, you'd think someone is trying to stunt the growth of humanity!
     I'm not trying to say, "Hey everybody, what I'm doing is way more important than what you're doing!" What I'm really trying to say is, "Hey, if you truly believe that motherhood is worth celebrating, LETS CELEBRATE IT!" For crying out loud, the heck!
 I don't blame you if you don't get that joke-it's a small shout-out to my mom.
    That's why I've decided that Mother's Day deserves a whole week. It's teacher appreciation week, and do you know why they get a whole week? Because they deserve it! So do mothers; we are, after all, teachers too.


I'd also like to add that, by buoying up moms and especially SAHM, I also recognize that it's not possible or chosen by everyone. I'm not blowing out your candle, so lets just let all our lights shine bright!