Oh my. Republican strategist Ana Navarro went negative on stay-at-home Moms on Meet the Press this weekend.
Tim Graham of Newsbusters watches those stupid Sunday shows so we don’t have to. And on MTP, the “moderate” Republican Navarro compared working mothers and stay-at-home Moms, saying working moms “lean in” to work while stay-at-home moms “lean back…on a rocking chair with a mint julep.”
Whoa.
She also said that those women who stay at home are “kept women.” Seriously. That’s what she said.
You can read the transcript at Newsbusters.
One of the things that’s shocked me over the last few years is the level of animosity and ignorance towards stay-at-home parents. I’m a Dad who stays home with his children. I’ve met a number of people who just don’t know what to make of me. I’ve actually had well intentioned people wish me a “Happy Mother’s Day.”
I’ve also had many people make all sorts of nasty comments toward me concerning my staying at home with the kids. When people ask what I do I could tell them I write for all sorts of publications. Instead, I just tell them I’m a stay-at-home Dad because to be honest that’s my paramount responsibility. I’ve spoken with so many women who seem so apologetic about being a Mom. I’ve seen many many times when people ask a Mom what she does, they don’t say they’re stay-at-home Moms. Instead they say what it was they used to do and then they inform the person that they’re now at home with the kids. They seem embarrassed about it. I guess it’s probably because there’s no requirements to become a parent so they want to show that they’re accomplished. They could just whip out their kids’ report cards or say that their kids say “please” and “thank you” about 76% of the time. That would be proof of rock star motherhood.
I tell people that I’m such a terrible parent that I’m not good enough to supply my children with quality time so I make up for it with quantity time. I say I’m not as good a parent as others so I need to stay home with them to make up for my deficiencies.
But I’ve found that kids can’t really schedule their need for affection. My kids do random hugs. You can’t schedule “quality” hugs. I’ll supply them, whenever and wherever they want – no questions asked. I get a lot of them. And if they get a bruise or a scrape I’m there with ice or band-aids. Quantity time. I know it’s not all the rage but it works for me and mine.
Oh and one more thing. I’ve been staying at home with the kids for years and the last thing we actually do is stay home so I’m not even sure why it’s called that. And I’ve never even had a mint julep either.
