Dear stay-at-home moms,
I am sorry that I once dismissed your work as not for me because I wanted to be validated rather than calling out our institutions for devaluing caregiving. +

I am sorry that your needs are routinely dismissed as coming from a place of privilege. I know now that for every stay-at-home mother who genuinely feels privileged there's another at home because wages pay less than childcare, +

because their children are not supported by the school system or because their career didn't work out. I know now that many stay-at-home moms feel that it is those who are working who are privileged. +

I am sorry that you are forced into a position of precarity in which you don't even receive social security credits for raising the people who will fund everyone else's retirement. +

I am sorry that you spend large parts of the year sick because you are required to act with large numbers of people, including children who are especially likely to spread germs. +

I am sorry that we've made the choice not to better support parents. I hope we one day live in a country where parents have a more meaningful set of choices. Choices that are really choices. Until then, I'm done judging people by their job titles or lack thereof. +

*Inspired by seeing a friend told she shouldn't receive the vaccine even though she is on the priority list because she is basically a stay-at-home mom.