If you have children, you know that being a mom can be tough. You have to be physically, emotionally, and psychologically strong — seemingly at all time — just to handle the many things thrown at you each day. Some moms are career women, and others are stay-at-home moms, and it's honestly not easy for any of us.
The idea that being a stay-at-home mom is a walk in the park seems to be becoming increasingly more pervasive, and we're honestly confounded by that notion. There are people who actually think that if you stay home you must spend your days on the couch with a bag of chips and an iced coffee in hand, binge-watching Netflix while your children run amok.
Uhh … wrong. Em Woods, a TikTok mom, recently used the platform to dispel the idea that stay-at-home moms aren't working moms, and it is positively hilarious.
Woods says there is nothing glamorous about being a stay-at-home mom.
Sure, there are some benefits to staying home, just like there are advantages to being a career mom, but being home is not glamorous. Wood thinks that maybe Instagram has made the world delusional about what is really going on at home during the day.
She said, "It's fake. It's fake." Woods knows what is accurate firsthand, and she wants her followers to see the truth.
If this mom wrote a memoir, she would hold nothing back.
Woods said she could write a memoir about her days as a stay-at-home mom, and she came up with some hilariously accurate working titles. As she put it, "I'm open to suggestions, but these are the titles I'm working on for now."
"Who peed in the trash can? … and other questions about unidentified fluid," is just one option listed in her TikTok.
"Is my butthole twitching, or is it just anxiety?
"How your body changes when you grow humans from scratch and push them out in a gush of fluid while you're naked on a table in front of four strangers. And then your husband has the nerve to say, 'Please don't wear my T-shirt to bed' six months later."
The TikToker continued offering memoir titles.
"Girl, you need a crockpot. Lazy meals when you have other s— to do and you still have to feed the people in your house for the third time today.
"Magic Erasers aren't edible. Telling my kids not to eat dumb stuff.
"Please don't bite my nipple. My journey with breastfeeding.
"My name is Janine, the alter ego I've created to parent my children when I can't deal with their s— anymore."
Other options are just as funny.
"Are we having anything else for dinner or is this it? The times I didn't slap the taste of out my children's mouth because I am a saint.
"Can you not? A story of my toddler's tantrums when receiving the exact thing they asked for two minutes ago, even after repeatedly confirming this is the thing that they want.
"What have you even done all day? The time I almost murdered my husband but didn't.
"You're so lucky to have a husband that works so hard. And other dumb s— that strangers say to me."
And finally, there's this one: "I'm gonna go touch grass. The time I was so overwhelmed, I had to mow the lawn in anger."
Why do people think that being a stay-at-home mom is so easy?
There seems to be massive confusion about what being a stay-at-home mom actually looks like day-to-day, and people in the comment section on Woods' video wanted to help her clarify.
"My grandma told me, 'I don't know where these people got the idea that we played with our kids all day long. I had too much to do,'" one commenter wrote.
"Staying home raising small children for 10 yrs was the hardest thing I ever did. Going back to work was heaven," another person shared.
Many agreed that it is OK to be over it every once in a while.
"When it's late and I'm DONE, when my boys say "mom?" I'm all 'Mom's off the clock. Goes ask dad,'" one mom suggested.
Of course, no matter how hard you work, do your kids even notice?
Surely your children appreciate your hard work and sacrifice, right? Hmmm, doubtful — at least not until they're older. Some kids see their moms as just fixtures in the home.
"Don't forget when your kid's new friend says his mom's a doctor and asks 'What does your mom do?' And your kid says 'My mom doesn't do anything,'" one mom pointed out.
In conclusion, is it worth it?
Well, Woods never got to finish her video because the chaos in her home got in the way in a hilarious and quite fitting ending. Her followers, however, said that if given the chance, they would definitely do it all over again.
"I know everyone is different but I just want to say that mine are teenagers and I would go back and do it all over again in a heartbeat," one mom recalled.
As we all know, it goes by in a blink.
