We're not that different

I've been talking to some of my working friends and family lately and found that while people feel like there is a big difference between stay at home parents and people in the working world, that's just not the case. As the title of this post says we're not that different. I've read tons of articles that try to pin one side against the other, exclaiming their role to be the more difficult. So this post is to unite the working and the stay at home parent in order to find common ground.

The working person says "I'm tired of dealing with everyone's else's crap all day"
The stay at home parent actualy deals with the literal crap of someone else all day. (also deals with pee, snot, and the occasional puke)

The working person says "My boss is so unreasonable, his expectations are crazy"
The stay at home parent just spent 40 minutes trying to explain/plead/ reason with their toddler, the logistics of why a soup pot, pop up tent, and the cat can not fit in the three inch space between the front door and the storm door no matter how hard you slam it. How's that for reasonable expectations?

The working person says "No one here understands me"
The stay at home parent of a toddler shares only about 6-10 common words with their child and you might be surprised how infrequently "woof-woof" and "ball" help bridge the daily communication gap.

The working person says "These deadlines are killing me"
The stay at home parent has deadlines too. We have four minutes from witnessing "poop face" to change the diaper before the onset of rash. We have 3 seconds to fast forward the part of a show our toddler doesn't like before they melt down and rip the tv off the wall. We have 1/4 of a second to realize that the trajectory of the hand full of spaghetti is not moving toward the mouth but the floor.

The working person says "I hate the politics here"
The stay at home parent is all to familiar with politics. I mean Mr. Frog and Captian Beanrington can barely stay in the same playroom. For stuffed animals they are suprisingly temperamental. It's sad really.

And finally the working person says "I did all the work and someone else took all the glory"
The stay at home parent knows this feeling well. They administer the yucky medicine, they force the unwanted diaper changes, they wipe the after meal face while trying to avoid being bit. They spend the day forcing their children to be clean, nice, and safe. Then after all the toddlers screaming, defying, and crying in walks Daddy! He hands over an Oreo, throws your child dangerously high into the air, and upon catching him showers him with kisses! Oh Daddy, you're wonderful...not at all like that Mommy of mine.