Saturday, March 29, 2014

Bite Me™ Gwyneth

Most of you have already heard about Gwyneth Paltrow's condescending comments about how difficult it is to be a movie star mom.  To refresh your memory, here it is:

"I think it's different when you have an office job, because it's routine and, you know, you can do all the stuff in the morning and then you come home in the evening," she said. "When you're shooting a movie, they're like, 'We need you to go to Wisconsin for two weeks,' and then you work 14 hours a day and that part of it is very difficult. I think to have a regular job and be a mom is not as, of course there are challenges, but it's not like being on set."
As many of you know, I am a working mom.  Admittedly, it's easier now that the Boy is pretty self-sufficient. I do, however, remember the earlier days.  They went something like this:

I would wake the Boy up and make breakfast, make sure he had all his stuff in his backpack (he IS a boy after all - his organizational skills left something to be desired...and STILL do) and get him off to school (cuz, ya know, I didn't have a nanny).  In between that, I would shower and get ready for work.

Off to work I go.  During my lunch hour, I would usually run errands (cuz, ya know, I didn't have a personal assistant) then wolf down my lunch with whatever time I had left.  Back to work I go.  Of course if the Boy got sick, I would have to LEAVE my job to care for him (cuz, ya know, that no nanny thing).  I can't tell you how many days of PTO I had to use for doctors appointments, a sick kid, whatever.  And I'm very fortunate I HAD PTO.  Many don't.  Those of us who live in the real world know these things.

Then off to pick him up from day care.  With no nannies on staff, we regular people have to pay outrageous amounts of money to have someone look after their children while we finish our work day.  After work I cooked dinner (cuz, ya know, no personal chef in my house), cleaned up and then settled in to coax and argue the kid into doing his homework.   By the time we were done and he got showered and in bed, it was usually about 9:30.  Add to that cleaning, doing laundry and all those pesky little responsibilities that fall on us common folk with no household staff.

And THAT, my friends, is with only one child.  Many parents have to juggle more than one.  And as they get older some get into sports, after school clubs, what have you.  So you juggle those schedules as well.

Yep - being a working mother (as opposed to a "movie star") is a breeze!  I'm so glad she pointed that out!  How silly of me to think that she had it so easy!  In closing, I have one thing to say...

BITE ME™ Gwyneth!