Hm Hm Hm...

La ti da. I love my summer job. I have just helped a lovely little child figure out the piano part to a song. Ho hum.
Seriously -- I really will miss this job when we move away. It's so awesome, and you just can't get any better than these kids! But right now one of them is glancing at my computer screen, so I'll write more about how lovely they are later.

Here's the really interesting question about this "stay-at-home mom" business. Why is there this sudden rush for all these young women to stay at home? What causes this? The boring answer that you will undoubtedly hear is, "Because family values are becoming more important."
Once again, uh huh.
My biggest thought is that we have reverted to this "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" junk. This thought was originally Buckwalter's, and I applaud it. We spent all this time when the feminist movement really got chugging convincing people that men and women should be equal. Then, some time around when this book came along, or thereabouts, it wasn't about that anymore. It was about how special and caring and loving women are, and how aggressive and violent and macho men are. Or that's my understanding. True, I have not read said book, but that's because the idea of reading that book curdles my stomach acid.
Anyway, suddenly women were to be revered again. Put upon a pedestal. Called Princess. Taught once more to value their virginity and their womanhood as a precious stone, and soon sex ed. classes were talking about your "special flower" and handing out roses to make people really consider these serious issues.
Problem? Yes. If women are to be revered as the most precious things in life, then suddenly equality is gone. What happened to wanting to be a banker? What happened to wanting to work on the railroad?
These issues all tie together -- we cannot be equal unless we make ourselves equal. That means an equal share of income. An equal share of housework. An equal share of kid time. An equal share of "caring" and "aggressive natures."
I feel as though I'm going around and around a roundabout. That's probably because I am. But people just make me so angry.
So where do I fit in in the the "Venus/Mars" argument? With things like this, I feel as though I could wrap your eyeballs around your head twice if you cross me. Other times, and with TOTALLY other people, I can be that caring, sharing, Greek goddesse of love (that's French for "goddess.") This is not something you can tie up in a neat little package with cute little frilly fonts and just say, "Well, it's all a part of God's plan. Men are violent. Women are hormonal wrecks. Let's praise..."
Right now I just wish my hands-free cell phone part hadn't been ripped asunder in a freak car seat accident so that I could vent verbally a little more to poor Buckwalter.
Poor Buckwalter...hopefully he doesn't mind these little outbursts.
Most days I actually feel the most like this lovely lady of the silver screen: demure...