Yes, I'm a stay-at-home mom. No, it isn't 'the hardest job in the world.'

Why do people feel the need to justify my new career with such exaggeration?

Stay at home mom.
(Image credit: iStock/Martinan)

Sometimes, when people find out I'm now a stay-at-home mom, they say something like the following: "Oh, good for you — it's the hardest job in the world!"

While I find this comment both patronizing and hilarious, it also makes me wonder: Why do people feel the need to justify my new career with such exaggeration? It is obvious to me that there are more difficult day jobs. Being in the military, or being a doctor, a nurse, a teacher, a police officer, or a waitress all sound harder than slinging bottles and playing with my kids all day long. I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure telling someone they have an inoperable tumor is harder than changing diapers. I can barely wrap my mind around the miracles teachers work every day. I've also never been a waitress but my babies have never docked my tip for forgetting the lemon in their ice water.

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Katie Gauss

Katie Gauss is a wife and mother of twin girls. She is a Certified Public Accountant by trade but currently a stay-at-home mom. She lives in beautiful northern New Mexico and writes about life with twins at her blog.