the ultimate career: motherhood
September 16th, 2003
[Originally published in The Michigan Journal, 9/16/03]
As an ambitious young student headed towards law school, I surprise most people with my unabashed answer to their question, “What do you want to do with your life?”
Society teaches us that our aim should be to find the ideal fit career-wise for each of us. For those of us who are idealists, we search for the careers that not only will be financially rewarding but will also, more importantly, be the most fulfilling: careers that will allow us to make a positive difference in this world.
There are so many options available to us as students at the University of Michigan; the list of careers we have to choose from is endless. Yet I believe for those of us who are women, we often overlook one of the greatest career options: motherhood.
The vehicle of motherhood offers a mode of opportunity that I would argue can leave a woman more fulfilled than any other career.
I’m not just talking about having children, for there is a great difference between having children and actually choosing to mother them. The law may view a mother as a legal custodian and caretaker of her child, but to truly mother that child involves mental, physical, and emotional effort that extends well beyond what the law requires. Thus, while a daily dinner of boxed macaroni and cheese and a steady diet of Saturday morning cartoons or video games six hours per day (especially during those first critical years of a child’s development) may not land you in court, the price your child will likely pay for your perfectly legal but morally negligent mothering will be costly.
Motherhood provides an enormous opportunity for those of us who are women to make a lasting difference in this world. We are given the gift of being able to shape a child’s life and instill in him or her a strong, lasting foundation. We are the ones who are raising the next generation. Our influence is great. Our power for good, incredible. Our task, challenging.
Too often we gloss over motherhood as a career option because as a society, motherhood is not given the place that it should be given. Mothers are taken for granted, their job is too often overlooked by a world which denotes value by a monetary scale, and what is one of the highest callings a woman can have gets short-changed.
As a result, women pursue the careers that offer them rewards that are tangible, overlooking the incredible, lasting satisfaction that motherhood has to offer them.
Ultimately, they risk missing out on what could be one of the greatest experiences. What an honor it is to have the opportunity to equip a child with the life skills to not only excel in this world but also contribute to society, and to know that it is chiefly your influence that shapes the person your child will become as an adult.
Such a realization is not only exciting, but also humbling, for it is a huge undertaking which should not be taken lightly.
Just as the best careers are challenging and require you to be sharp in order to excel, motherhood is also challenging. Some would argue it is the toughest job that exists. It is a full-time task, and the demands are high.
Mothers become superwomen out of necessity. Experts at multi-tasking and managing, they learn to wear many different hats, including nurse, playmate, chauffeur, cook, housekeeper, role model, teacher, mentor, friend, nurturer, etc. The skills one needs to raise a child successfully can compete with any of those listed on the best resumes.
Of course, having children is what we make it to be, and for those who do not have the vision of what motherhood can and should be, it may not be for them; but for those of us who see the importance of the job and are willing to take on the responsibility, we should embrace the job for what it is: an outstanding career.
-Christen Patterson