The 'Out of the Box' Mum

It is in the polls whether or not working mothers should get priority in the day-care centres. As a work-at-home-mum or now commonly known as WAHM, I can sympathize with all mums.

The stereotypes of Mums (presented mostly by television) are often misconstrued. Take the SAHM (Stay-At-Home-Mum), it is often pictured – a mum in curlers and dressing gown, vacuuming and cleaning and ironing in whirlwind time then spending the majority of her time, lazing about watching soap-operas and gossiping over a cup of tea and cakes.

Then the WAHM (Work-at-Home-Mum), we visualize – a mum constantly on the phone, and at her computer with her desk stacked with papers, trying to find a space that does not have peanut butter smears or chocolate milk spills, in-between yells of ‘Johnny, don’t touch that! Or she is chasing the kid around the dining room table to wrestle the precious office document out of his hands.

Next is the WAOM (Work-at-Office-Mum), on canvas we see – a mum rushing out the door for work, leaving notes of instructions on the fridge for the husband and kids, on the phone making arrangements for who is going to pick the kids up from school or daycare and coming home to a house already in order and the kids neatly tucked into bed fast asleep.

The fact of the matter is, there are no stereotypes, in this day and age, the gift Mums have of multi-tasking is stretched to the limit. Imagine how many costumes us ‘Super Mums’ have to change into:

Live in house-keeper. No matter how hard Mums work in the ‘real’ workforce, they still carry the main load of keeping home too.

Group organizer. Arranging and rearranging the whole family’s appointments and extra-curricular/ or after-hours activities into some form of workable order.

Nutritionist. Planning the meals and balancing the daily diet into a healthy eating plan for several often finicky eaters.

Errand runner. Shuffles to pay the household bills while out doing the grocery shopping or going to that PTA meeting.

Negotiator. A major role with ‘how much allowance’ and ‘exceptions to the rule’.

Cheer-leader. Come wind, sun, rain or shine; Mum is always in the cheer line.

The list goes on and on…..Supervisor, Life-guard, Bodyguard, Referee, Teacher, Peacemaker, Entertainer, Chef, Party-planner, School Project Manager, Fund-raiser, Secretary, Phone-Operator, Counsellor, Sports and Exercise coach, Laundry lady, Personal Development Motivator, Nurse, Finance Manager, Court Judge, and Mentor….just to name a few.

So, if Mums are Super-Heroes then who are our Side-Kicks? Our ‘support-system’ of course - whether it be the hubby and kids all doing their ‘two-bits’ or extended family lending a hand; or for some it is the day-care centres and after-hours school care.

So the question remains you say, who should take priority in the day-care centres? – The mums who have no other ‘side-kick’ to turn to – of course. No more, no less.

I know some of you Dads maybe be protesting here. Whether it be Mums or Dads, whose role is it anyway? It’s a crazy mixed up world we live in.

For me, why not turn back the clocks to the ‘Golden Days’; the ‘Pleasantville’ society where roles were clearly divided. Just being pancake making, apple-pie baking, roast dinner cooking Mum with Dad, after working hard at the office, walking in with a ‘Honey, I’m home’. That ‘box’ would suit me just fine. In plain old black and white. :-)

Copyright 2006. Rebecca Laklem.