MOMMY MADNESS

Warner, Judith (2005) Mommy madness, NEWSWEEK, 2/21, p. 42-52.

Well now. You grew up hearing that your mother fought for the right of their daughters to have neat jobs. Moms were very ideological and threw in a Marxist term here and there. You grew up under Reagan and became profoundly apolitical. Your mom was screwy and many of the things they she talked about didn’t work and it made you want to vomit.

So now you are a mom. You get up early work all day and all night and the kids are trouble. You sleepwalk through the day with caffeine by your side. Husbands can be considered another kid or sometimes they are helpful. Maybe you should have had just one kid and forget about the guitar lessons and volleyball practice. At any rate, you are all alone.

Maybe a FEW of the things that your mom talked about were right. Why isn’t there a tax deduction for child care or a subsidy? Perhaps, you could cut back on all this stuff to make your child perfect. Perhaps, you can tell all those child experts to screw themselves.

When was the last time that you really relaxed? Maybe you can check into a hotel for 2 days and just sleep. Have a vacation without the kids. Whatever. Get organized.

If you work at home as a housewife, how is it talking to the kids all day? It’s time to get out for awhile.