Sorry, just have to rant for a moment
I'm pretty good with comments about our family. Either I repel them by sheer body language, or they are one of the same few questions or comments that I usually receive and for which I have well-rehearsed replies. Every so often, though, I get a question or comment that sets me back on my heels and I mumble through some kind of response, it taking several hours of thought to really come up with a half-way decent reply.
I received one of those types of questions the other day. What was it? I can't remember the words exactly, but it went along the lines of, "I'm curious about your decision to homeschool. So you're content to just do that all day long? You don't miss the camaraderie of the work place?"
I'll let you just sit with that for a few moments. It feels a little more demeaning every time I read it. The trouble was, the question was asked in good faith and wasn't meant to sound snide. So the snark response goes completely out the window. I've been pondering why this particular question has so rankled me.
I think it was throwing in that little word, 'just'. Frankly, I am content to stay home with my children. I enjoy them. I like the challenge of figuring out how they learn best. I enjoy learning things with them and planning what we are going to learn next. This is not all I do, though. I have my own interests which I pursue. I have friends whom I socialize with. (When my equally introverted friends and I can get up the energy to socialize in person, that is.) My life is full, and not only with my children. But the comment certainly implied that this must be a compromise in some way; that I am missing out on an important life experience. It wasn't until I mentioned that I also taught piano... to other people's children... that the questioner was satisfied that I wasn't quite as stunted as first thought.
It all boils down to money, doesn't it? If I were actually teaching at a school, I don't think the question would have ever been asked. If I were teaching other people's children then that somehow validates what I do. This is what baffles me. Why is doing something for our own families not worth doing, but the second we do the very same thing for someone else, it becomes valuable? I fear it is the money. We have reached a point in our society that it is only the making of money that deems an activity worthwhile. We monetize everything.
I'm not even sure where I'm going with all of this. I guess just that it's tiring to have to defend a decision that should never have to be explained as to why it's valuable.
__________
I have a new article published. Click on it as much as you like. How I Use Social Media for Adoption Purposes
Comments
Not that I haven't made some wonderful friendships among work colleagues, I have, and I value them still, but overall it is probably not my first choice for friendships and warm fuzzies!