overly sensitive?

[psocoptera]

So I was generally grumpy about the length and format of the preschool open house I went to on Thursday, and it's possible that if I hadn't already been in a bad mood about that, I would have brushed this off and it wouldn't still be bugging me, but it is, so I'd like other people's perspectives. One of the speakers said that she was a working mother, and then added this little disclaimer, "but of course every mother is a working mother, and every dad has two jobs."

Um, okay. What about the dads with *one* job, you know, primary caretaker while their partner goes to work? Admittedly, this isn't my own personal situation, and for all I know it wasn't the situation of any of the people there that night, so maybe it's inappropriate for me to take offense. But, I don't know. Stay at home dads are my professional colleagues, they deserve as much credit as anyone else in our industry, solidarity! And, I guess I do feel a little personally annoyed, in that I like to think of my staying home as a decision we made in response to our particular specific situation, that could have gone another way under other circumstances, and marginalizing the other options makes it seem like less of a choice. But maybe that's just a lie I tell myself anyways and we're totally upholding the patriarchy. (But I'd still like to be a good ally to my colleagues.)

Comments

[amyprime.livejournal.com]

I think you're not wrong, but you're unlikely to find someplace where nobody thinks that way. Even people familiar with the concept find it strange -- "You know, the guy down the street from me is a *stay-at-home dad*." "Really? *Wow*. That' just *fantastic* of him."

[psocoptera.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, that's exactly what people would say, isn't it.