Does this make me the anti-feminist? Some say it does. Some say I'm not living up to my potential Are women like me setting our generation back? Should I stick a bottle in their mouth, throw them in a daycare, and run wildly back into the workforce? Or better yet, should I have remained celibate to focus on my career? I think not.
It's empowering for me to be able to do what I do. Kind of an ego trip, actually. I could look at each of my babies up until around 6 months and say, "I made that." Sure, I had the help of a sperm cell from my husband, but other than that, it's all me. Every fat roll on them up until then came from my body.
As I have said before, I work from home and I home school. I don't depend on daycare or the public school system. My children are my responsibility. I didn't have them so that I could throw them at a stranger and run right back to work as if nothing happened. I'm here to protect them, to teach them, and to comfort them when they need it. I may have to split my attention between running a business, cooking a meal, nursing an infant, and teaching the older children how to read a clock, but at least it's my attention.
I see nothing wrong with how I'm feeding into gender roles. Sure, I cook and clean, but then again, so does my husband. I could leave the kids with him so that he could to the cooking, cleaning, and raising while I have a career, but I don't want to. First of all, he would suck at that. Second of all, what would I be doing? Sure, I'd have the self-fulfillment of my old career that I had before kids. But I wouldn't have that warm fuzzy feeling I get every time I teach one of them something new. I'd have the guilt that goes along with working outside the home. I've done it before and I hated every minute of it, so I made some sacrifices.
What are your thoughts? Is attachment parenting the antithesis of feminism or the embodiment?
