Ivanka Trump takes issues with being described as a “working mom.” While we’ve been debating whether or not the term SAHM (stay-at-home mom) is embraceable, the mother of 20-month-old Arabella Rose Kushner has explained her thoughts to Redbook magazine.
“Oh, every morning I’m so sad to leave Arabella,” the 31-year-old, with an office visitor during one of her 16-hour days, explained. “But it’s important for me to continue what I’m doing. It’s fulfilling to me, and I think it makes me a better mom when I’m home.”
Ivanka Trump went on to vent, “And incidentally, I hate the expression ‘working mom,’ because when I’m with Arabella on the weekends, I’m much more exhausted on Monday morning than I am on Friday night! [Laughs] I think the expression ‘working’ versus ‘non-working’ implies that a mother who stays home doesn’t work. It’s far more difficult than anything I do in the office.”
As for Grandpa Donald (known as billionaire Donald Trump to the rest of us), she added with a laugh, “Oh, he takes [Arabella] all the time — but with me. He wouldn’t know what to do if she was crying or needed a diaper change.”
Is Ivanka Trump right that SAHM and working mom (WOHM — work-outside-the-home mom) are equally inadequate?
For what it’s worth, I’m what’s called a WAHM (work-at-home mom) and also kind of resent being described as such. Being that I work full time, I’d rather just be described by my position — freelance writer — and if the conversation dictates, I just so happen to also be a mom of two.
My husband? He works a full-time job in the landscaping world. He’s never, ever been described as a WOHD (dad). Why is ‘mom’ of one kind or another a necessary note in my title and his dadness not?
It seems to me that those who are satisfied with their descriptors are awfully few and far between.
