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10/30/2013
Hello Dr. Laura,
I would just like to thank you for your support to stay-at-home moms. My husband and I have been happily married for 18 years and have two children who are 8 years apart. With my daughter, we were able to work out jobs and finances so I could be home for her. Once she started school, I worked a few hours from home. When my son was born, I gave up that job and focused on raising him. Between 2000 and 2008 life has really changed and I used the Internet to connect with other parents through my pregnancy. These were supportive women going through the same thing, so I was surprised when after our children were born and many of them had eased back into jobs that I started to get comments about me "only" being at home with my baby and school-aged child. Eventually I did what worked with my daughter - got out in the parks and met other moms with babies who were like me, sacrificing extra income so we could raise and enjoy our children. But it took me a while to pick up on that attitude, that somehow I was dumb or lazy because I didn't jump into an office job as soon as my baby was 6 weeks old.
Listening to your show back in 2000-2001 when my daughter was a baby, I remember you saying that being at home with your children is just as important when they are tweens and teens as it is when they are little babies. I am so glad I internalized that lesson well. As my daughter navigates through 8th grade, and I see some of the hijinx going on with other kids, I am at home every day for her when she needs to talk through something. Only this week, a girl in her class broke down and confessed she had been blackmailed into providing videos for a pedophile online. The mother of this child was shocked of course, but one factor is how much time alone that girl had every day because she was "old enough" to take care of herself - never mind her daughter having all the technology, smart phone, etc. to be able to be contacted by a pedophile and make videos in the first place.
Thank you again for your strong voice in our society, I have truly benefited from listening to your show over the years!
Sincerely,
Susan
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