Side Effects May Harm Some Family Members

In today's culture it seems to be a truth universally accepted that young women have to go to college, and afterwards get career jobs that will enable them to rise to positions of power in society, because women are just as capable of running a successful business as men are.

Just to clarify, I'm not saying that women can't run a business just as well as men. I'm not saying that they can. And I'm not saying that women shouldn't go to college. I think the fact that women are able to go to college and get as much education as they want is a wonderful thing. All I want to talk about in this post is the repercussions a working mom's career has on her family.

Women are designed to have children, and to raise them. That is why we are more emotional, nurturing, and protective than men. We are better equipped to deal with day-to-day family life than men are. That is where our main skill set lies. Traditionally, men were the bread-winners of the family, and the women were the caretakers of the home and educators of the children. Up until the Industrial Revolution, that is (but the Industrial Revolution is a post for another day).

But in our "modern-thinking", feminist-idealogy-driven times, it is commendable for women to find work right out of college. Career jobs, at that. It is unthinkable to most of society that any woman would not want a career job, or would not consider marriage to be a career job (by the way, ask any married gal you know if they would consider marriage and/or raising a family to be a full-time job. I bet you I can tell you what their answer will be).

But in all this pressure to get high-paying, successful jobs, we tend to lose sight of something much more important. We as women have the unique gift of being able to  have children, and to raise and educate them much better than a man could. We are the ones who hold the family together.

I don't know how many times I have heard priests give homilies on the different roles of family members. I'm sure you've all heard some variation of this idea: the father is the "head" of the family, the one who makes the decisions and provides for the rest of the "body" that is the family. And the mother is the "heart" of the family, the caretaker and nurturer. The mother is the one who the kids go to when they are having trouble. She is the one who resolves sibling squabbles. She is the one the kids go to when they want something, and then the mom goes to the dad, because she is the one who can soften him up. She is the one who will sit and listen for the next forty-five minutes while the five-year-old retells his latest dream that doesn't even really make sense because he tells it in such a mixed-up, confusing way that makes you wonder if he even really understands what he's saying. She's the one who has the patience to explain that geometry problem to her highschooler over and over and over again, yea, even unto dinner time when the rest of the children are ravenously hungry so that they threaten to eat each other, and yet there is no food on the table. And she is the one who then takes all the children out to McDonalds, amid much cheering and vows of eternal love and gratitude from the backseat.

But we all know what happens if you take the heart out of the body. The body dies. The same principle applies to the family. If you take the mom out of the family life, away from the duties which should be hers, there is no one to fill the vacuum that is left and the family grows more and more distant from each other. In a sense, it dies.

This is what being a working mom means. And you may be thinking "but Grace, you're being paranoid. Now really, you're taking this too seriously."

Am I? Take a step back for a minute and look around. How many problems infect our society today? How many could be prevented if all homes had a good mother in them, taking care of them? People always talk about the ill-effects of not having a father around the house. But nobody ever mentions the harm that comes to a family without a mother.

I have been able to observe the children that come from a family where the mom is "stay-at-home", and I have been able to observe children that come from a family where the mom goes to work everyday. And the differences in the way the children interact not only with their siblings, but the way they view the world is very different, and not so much for the better.

I'm may not be a psychology expert, and I don't pretend to know each different family's situation when it comes to needing the extra income. And I'm not saying that a mom can't work from home, if that's what she wants to do. All I'm saying is my observations lead me to the conclusion that a family where the mom is present and accessible to her spouse and children at any and all times is a much happier and much more prosperous family.

If y'all have any thoughts on this subject, I'd love to hear 'em! :D

~Grace

This Makes Me Happy

One of my favorite videos ever. My favorite characters, performing my favorite song, by one of my favorite bands.

It just doesn't get any better than this.

~Grace

I'll Think of a Good Title Later On...

I sincerely apologize for the absence of new posts over the past couple of weeks. Things have been kind of crazy, getting a school-schedule set up and getting everyone into the habit of sticking to the afore-mentioned school-schedule.

A couple new things going on...I am now a registered voter in Virginia! Happy days! I would be excited, except for the overwhelming feeling that my vote will probably not make any difference whatsoever. I guess I'm voting for Romney-Ryan,but really I don't see how they can win. And call me a conspiracy-theorist, but I honestly believe the current administration will pull some crisis out of their hat (like a war with the Middle East?) to postpone the elections, and then grant themselves emergency powers. You know, like what happened here:

"For a safer, and more secure society..."

*cough*

Before I'm branded a domestic terrorist...

In other news, next month is the Northern Virginia Buddy Walk to raise money for Downs Syndrome research! So if you'd like to donate to my team, here's the link.

School is going really well. Math/Latin/Rhetoric are all coming along quite nicely. I finally got my missing paycheck. Everything's fine and dandy. So I don't know why I should be...eh, never mind.

Hope y'all have a good week!

~Grace

*throws confetti around the room*

I have been accepted at FisherMore as a part-time online student!! And I enrolled in Rhetoric, and got my books, and my syllabus, and tested my sound/video for Webex (the classroom provider...Mae, you oughta remember that from Latin, eh?? ;)), and I'm just so darn excited!!!!

Classes start next Wednesday (well my class, anyways...everything else starts Monday), and this course is going to be sooo rigorous. So prayers are appreciated. ;D

College! I love college! Drinks for everyone! :D

~Grace

Somebody goofed...

Oh the joys.

One of the great things about being paid on a Medicaid waiver is that I make over $10/hour. The bad thing about being paid on a Medicaid waiver is that it means the state of Virginia is paying me (and every other attendant on this particular waiver who works in Virginia).

Which means they have a lot of paperwork to shuffle everyday (the poor little dears).

Which means that sometimes they lose the paperwork that they need to issue my paycheck.

Which means I don't get my paycheck.

Which means no piano lessons or college courses!


Now, I usually try to avoid (sometimes at all costs) talking on the phone, unless I know the other person really well, because so many people mumble! And it drives me nuts because then I can't understand them. Huff. Plus I feel like an email is less intrusive? Because then they can get to it at their convenience (aren't I a nice person? ;D).

However.

The niceness ends when you don't pay me.

Just kidding. I don't send out the ninja monkeys. But when I call you to ask what the heck happened to my paperwork, I expect you to be able to give me a clear answer.

Girl at agency: Hi! How can I help you today?

Me: Hi, I'm just calling to ask about a missing paycheck? It was supposed to have been sent out two weeks ago, but I still haven't gotten it.

Girl: *sounding slightly confused* Umm...hang on just a second, let me check our records...*sound of clicking/typing in the background* I have a record of a check right here that is good to pay for this Friday? It's for 6.2 hours, is that correct?

Me: *thinking* that sounds right...*saying* Is it respite care?

Girl: Yes.

Me: There should be an attendant one too...

Girl: Ummm....I don't see one. I would just submit that one again.

Me: *thinking* Uhhh...okay? *saying* Alright...are you sure you don't see it?

Girl: Yeah I don't see it anywhere.

So I get off the phone, my computer FINALLY decides to load the webpage that shows all of my timesheets, and I realize she was looking at the WRONG consumer! *bangs head against keyboard* So I had to call her back.

Long story short, she stopped the payment on the old check and issued me a new one, which should be here Monday. But really. How hard is it to write a check and mail it to somebody??

~Grace