The mommy wars are in full effect with Sarah Palin running for office. Now not only the mind boggling question of whether a woman should work or not is raised, but can a woman have five children and be Vice President?

My answer is sure she can, but she better have a lot of help!

Hillary Clinton was the only other woman who has ever ran for such a high ranking position in this country. She has one daughter, and she is grown. Sarah Palin does have a whole different scenario going on. There is the argument that if she were a man she wouldn’t be challenged as a parent. And while this is a possibility, does it mean that a man shouldn’t be? I also can recall George Bush’s daughter’s making the headlines a few times and yes, it seemed to reflect on him as a parent.

Let’s face it. Women have always been stereotyped as the more giving, loving and nurturing parent. So it is assumed that the woman should take the primary role of parent. When in reality, children can be loved and grow through either gender, preferably both. Reality says that this however cannot always be the case. In some instance’s children are raised primarily by the father, primarily by the mother, primarily by both or often by people that aren’t the biological parents at all. Is it important who provides the care in a child’s life, no. It is what kind of care that is provided that is the important part.

While I don’t agree with many of Sarah Palin’s political viewpoints, I think she is actually sending a great message to women that even when they have children, they can still achieve other goals and dreams. Maybe her dream didn’t consist of being mother of the year? Actually I’m pretty sure it doesn’t. But isn’t that okay? It doesn’t make her a “less than” mother unless her children are being neglected and have no one there to meet their needs. Will she be the one meeting a majority of them while she runs for office, I doubt it. There’s a very thin line between being brilliant and just plain stupid and it is very possible that she has bit off more than she can chew. However, we will possibly (hopefully) never know.

When I tell people that my children’s fathers do a lot of the raising, they can’t believe it. I get all kinds of reactions from “you are so lucky!” to being talked about in a negative parenting light. If as a mother, you aren’t the primary care giver in your children’s lives, you are automatically a “bad” mother. You are judged by many other mothers who have felt like they needed to give up or sacrifice most or much of their lives in order to win some silent “great mother” title. I’m sorry, but I guess I just don’t feel like I’m going to hell by handing over the kids to dad or grandparents. Especially when heaven is being able to breathe, relax on the couch with some wine and go get a haircut when I need to.

I personally know that there is no way in I would want to raise my three children even ½ of the time and help to run the United States as well. More power to her. I’ll just keep on my part-time parenting regimen, work a 9-5 and try to cut out small triangles of time for myself while still whining about how hard my juggling act is!

And p.s., to the “you are so lucky” people. It has nothing to do with luck. If you choose an appropriate partner to have children with and them sitting on the couch every Sunday watching football is not an option, then the guy will do his part! Even if it means your kids wear their costume’s to daycare in September As my husband says, there are worst things. LOL