Rant: Don’t Tell a Mother What She Can’t Do

Try to tell a mother she can’t do it all, and then watch her conquer her world. In the “do this, don’t do that” world of parenting, people still haven’t learned that parents don’t mind suggestions, but despise others telling them what’s best for the family. Fox News’ Suzanne Venker made a bold statement last week when she wrote that if women want balance in their lives, they need to stop trying to do it all.

The founder of Women for Men (WFM)—”a news and opinion website committed to improving gender relations and to providing much-needed support for the American male”—says to let your companion “bring home the bacon” if you want to even your life out. “There’s no way to be a wife, a mother and a full-time employee and still create balance,” Venker says. “But you can have balance by depending on a husband who works full-time and year-round.”

This opinion comes just weeks after I published a timeline of my daily life as a new mom in the “The Colorado Woman” (December 2013). I’ll be the first to say it’s not easy to be a working mama, but it’s so worth it…to me. I thrive on diving into the job I worked very hard to get. I look forward to telling my daughter that I work in the very profession I wrote about in a second-grade “When I Grow Up” essay. And most of all, I believe that when I get home in the evening, the time I get to spend with my family is quality. Every mother has a different situation, a different level of partner help, and different desires on how they’d like to live their lives. No one has the right to say what works for everyone.

Rave: The Parking Angels are Descending on Denver

Beyond the party planning, shopping, and traveling stresses that come with the holidays, finding parking ranks right up there. How many times have you been parked downtown and lost track of time or your errands took a little bit longer than expected? The dreaded yellow ticket sticking out of your door can really hinder your holiday spirit. But if you make the nice list—between now and December 31—by parking legally and paying your meter, the Denver Public Works Right-of-Way agents will have a stash of $5 parking gift cards to give away to drivers following the rules.

—Image courtesy of Shutterstock

Follow editorial assistant Lindsey R. McKissick on Twitter at @LindseyRMcK.