Musings From My Mind: When Did Being a Mom Become Insulting?

Day 153

I watched Last Man Standing. Vanessa wants get tattoo's with the girls because it's the "kind of thing you do with friends". Basically, she is upset her children think of her as "mom".

When did being a mother become a bad thing?

We have a whole generation of women who believe it's insulting to be thought of as a "mom".

The mini van. The single most useful idea for a vehicle to come off the drawing board in decades. Lots of room, lots of seating and comfortable to drive. Almost every car maker had some incarnation of the mini van. Then the label "mom vehicle" was hung on it like a sign saying adulteress. Fashion conscious mothers wouldn't be caught dead driving a "mom vehicle". And the mini van certainly classified as the mother of all mom vehicles.

There was a commercial attesting to how uncool it was to be thought of as a mom. A woman driving along says, "It's not like I'm rockin' mom jeans." Oblivious to the fact there is a tall latte somehow clinging to the roof of her mini van, everyone is trying to warn her. She assumes they are "checking her out" which they wouldn't do if they thought she was a "mom". You had to see the commercials; there were several, intimating being thought of as a mom was bad.

Being a mother was an honor worthy of great respect. Now it is a fashion faux pas. Today it is far more important to be a "fashionista" than a mother. Or maybe it's OK to be anything as long as you look good doing it.

Until tomorrow,

Ken