ABC 33/40 – Birmingham News, Weather, Sports
Rising above ‘mom shaming’.
Yesterday, I had the honor of being interviewed by a reporter from ABC 33/40 for a story they were doing. Mom Shaming is the title of the story, and I enjoyed very much getting to put my two cents in about being a stay at home mom / part time blogger and photographer. In today’s society many mother’s receive prejudice for making the decision to stay at home or to go back to work. Each side faces judgement and flack for whatever they choose. In this segment, I talk about how I chose to stay at home and how lucky I was to have co workers, family, and friends who supported my decision. Some are not so lucky and are judged by many with whatever decision they choose. A psychologist explains some ways to help deal with those who are not supportive or willing to give you praise for your decision. I hope you enjoy the video!
I’d like to hear your own personal experiences with your decision to stay at home or go back to work. Did you face any hardships from co-workers, family, or friends? Are you happy with your decision or do you find yourself wanting to do the opposite of what you chose? Was your decision long term or did you just temporarily make a decision for your family?
Congratulations on the interview! That’s great! I am currently struggling with the decision about whether to stay home or go back to work after I have the baby. It’s a tough decision!
Thank you so much! I send well wishes your way that you make the best decision for you and your family. It is such a difficult one, but like the psychologist said in the video- it isn’t permanent and you can always change your mind later. Good luck mama! And congrats on your pregnancy 🙂
You did a great job!!! Go you!! I think it’s hard no matter how you flip the coin. I myself feel like being a teacher is a great job for me because I get summers/holidays off and we have Kennedy (and soon to be the second baby) in a MDO program that runs with my school schedule, so it is cheaper than traditional daycare. I kind of get the benefits of being a SAHM a few months out of the year. While my specific teaching job isn’t exactly ideal (I do so much extracurricular after school work), I am trying to transition to something that is just teaching with no after school component tied to it. Hopefully that will pan out for me soon. It’s great that your family and friends were supportive of you staying home with Scarlett – that’s great. I sometimes feel a lot of mom guilt being away from my family, and that’s so hard to shake sometimes. But then I get months like June, July, and August and I am so thankful for all this time I get with my little one.
Thank you Meg!! I think your job is the perfect job for any Mother. Teachers have some of the best schedules for having a family. I so wish I would have done teaching sometimes 🙂 I think you are doing a great job! If you are happy then that is all that matters 🙂 Thanks for your heart today!
Beautiful job Brittany!! I was so excited to see what the segment was about because I’m going through it right now. When I returned to work after having Ethan I asked if I could drop my hours to part time. They were fine with it. I was so thankful for the opportunity. It was working fine, but I was finding that I was experiencing a battle within myself. When I was at work I felt guilty for not being home with my baby and the days that I was home I felt guilty for not working full time and contributing more financially. I kept pushing forward day to day and it was not easy.
My husband and I were finding that even though our son was with family while we were at work his schedule was not consistent enough. His mood was lighter, his naps and feeding times were consistent, etc. We had tossed around the idea of me resigning. I finally got the nerve and strength to do so. I was so nervous and scared because I had worked since I was 16 years old. Well, the big day came for me to resign and one of my bosses convinced me to drop to one day a week. She said for me to at least try it because it would get me out of the house and doing what I love and what I worked so hard to build. They have hired someone to help with my patient load and this is my last week training her. Next week I will be home with my baby 6 out of 7 days and I can barely wait.
Thank you so much Heather! I so appreciate you watching the segment and giving your input! I am so happy for you that you get to stay home with Ethan so much now! That is so very wonderful! Im glad you can still go to work as well, I think that you will really appreciate that day in the long run. You get the best of both worlds 🙂 The days are long being a SAHM and I really do enjoy the few hours a week Scarlett goes to Mother’s Day Out. Enjoy that sweet boy of yours 🙂