Mr. Mom

Today in my World Government, Economy, & Culture class, my professor questioned the 50 seat lecture room, “Out of all the women in this room, how many of you intend on being stay-at-home moms?”

I sit in the front row, and know no one in the class. I raised my hand, abruptly almost. My blonde bombshell of an unrelated sister and I have been talking about this since we were seventeen. We can’t wait for the day when we have a family and get to spend time raising them! Little did I know that I was the only female to raise my hand. My professor smiled at me and said, “One.” He proceeded, “Now, don’t knock this, ladies and gentlemen. A role like that is needed in our society. Don’t knock it. That just means most of you men will be Mr. Moms.” A deep baseball team-playing voice murmured, “I’d do it” in the laziest tone.

I was completely shocked to be the only female in my class to want to have a family one day, that I raise by staying home. Unless there were some shy hands left clamping knees, I was alone. My face turned hot at first, embarassed and imagining the thoughts streaming through my classmates’ minds. Something like “why bother getting a degree?”

Well, as a voice who wants to have as many kids as God allows (and I can handle) I want to speak out. I love and value my education; to me it is irreplaceable. Also, I feel called to use the gifts I was given to change something in this world. To all of you who may scoff at this, I want to remind you there is nothing wrong being raised by a woman with a college (or graduate) degree.