An article today in the USA Today “Work or Stay at home: It’s Still Quandary For Moms” re-sparked the age-old mommy wars. Why does the press see it as only a two-sided choice? Let’s get the debate REALLY started!

First of all, a war requires two parties to disagree. I have a lot of friends who stay at home with their kids and I have a great respect for them. I don’t judge them because they made a different choice in life and they don’t judge me for working, at least as far as I know. If we would just quit worrying about what other people think, the other side would get tired and leave us alone. After all - no one likes to pick a fight where the other party isn’t fighting back, such as how Sabrina Parsons, CEO of Palo Alto Software, handled an insensitive remark from a colleague. It could have started a war. In response, she simply smiled, brushed it off, and focused on getting home to see her boys. I believe the reason she was able to do that so easily is that she is at peace with her own decision to continue not only working after having kids, but running a successful software company. If more women were at peace with their own decisions there would be no war.

Secondly, it consistently amazes me that most of these “Mommy War” reports leave out the option exercised by so many women to start their own business. Granted, not all moms are cut out to run a business but I maintain that there are a lot more women out there who haven’t realized they fit the bill as a “woman entrepreneur” yet. Do they see it as ‘unattainable?’ It is hard, to be sure, but if you find the right path it is SOOOOO worth it! And for those naysayers who say you can’t be a good mom and be serious about your business…tune ‘em out like Sabrina did!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007 at 1:54 pm and is filed under Work/Life Balance, Being a ParentPreneur, Entrepreneurship. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.