The “Mom-In-Chief” Kerfuffle

I guess I should be happy that the media has jumped on Michelle Obama’s comment that her primary role now is First Mom.   The statement has the media writing articles, producing TV news stories and moms and women commenting on whether she’s doing the right thing or whether she’s selling out her education and experience.  That conversation certainly plays right into my website for those wanting more workplace flexibility.

I think having this conversation is important…as long as you’re having this conversation about your own life and not someone else’s.  The wonderful thing about being a mom in today’s world is that we have a choice.  We can have a career, or we can choose to stay home, or we can choose to do a little of both, or we can choose to do one, then the other, then go back, then re-choose again.

As the mother of a little girl I feel it is my role to show my daughter that she can be anything she chooses – in her career, as a mom, as a woman.

For what it’s worth my take is that Michelle Obama is not saying she cannot have a high-powered career – she’s done that.  She’s not saying she’s only going to be a mommy.  She is saying that at this transitional time for her children, her #1 priority is to make sure they are adjusting well to their new and vastly changed lives.  I’m also guessing this won’t be the last time Michelle Obama’s career/life balance shifts during her life.

Good for her.  She has shown her daughters and my daughter that women have a choice.  They can have a high-powered career and they can take time off from that career to put family first and figure out their next move.  A career is an evolution, not a straight line up the corporate ladder.  The corporate world is losing lots of great minds because they do not get this…apparently some members of the media and the public don’t either.