The GEM Debate:
Should The Soon-To-Be Royal Mom Stay At Home?
Just when you thought, “If only I ruled the world, maybe this parenting thing would be easier” something like this comes along. As many may know, Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge (Kate Middleton) will soon be having their first baby (she is two days overdue) and the question has come up as to when or if the Duchess should return to work or be a stay-at-home mother. Sigh.
Now, without making stay-at-home motherhood sound too simple and not to downplay the number of appearances the royal family has to attend, let me just say I don’t think that the Duchess will have any problem performing her duties and being a mom. I tout myself as a stay-at-home mother and Joelle and I just attended a meetup together. Yes, I plied her with a treat to keep her quiet, but I don’t have access to nannies as the future Queen of England will. Working outside the home for her includes mostly public appearances, and while you really don’t want to have your new child out and about with strangers too often, the Duchess can amend her schedule or the time she spends away from the newest heir to the throne. Although I don’t know that she’d ever really leave her baby at home.
Each mother, no matter her status in the world, should have the right to get back to work if she wants. I tell my friends this all the time: You will figure it all out. Having a baby is a progression and the answers sort of reveal themselves to you as you go along. Babies are born taking baby steps and parents shouldn’t feel they need to be experienced sprinters when the baby gets here. If the Duchess feels that she can handle returning to work as scheduled in autumn she will. If she resumes her duties and decides she needs more time to be at home with her baby I’d also hope she’d speak up and take that route.
The Duchess of Cambridge is going to have to answer for every parenting decision she makes from breastfeeding, to breastfeeding in public, to even whose parents help her with the new baby per the article. At this point I hope she’s realized that she should just listen to her internal mom voice. She, too, will one day run a kingdom; I hope she realizes that that more than qualifies her to run her own household.
What do you think? Should Kate Middleton return to work in the fall or should she take some time away from prying eyes and enjoy motherhood behind closed doors for a little longer? Let us hear ya!
More from GEM:
Are Women Too Afraid To “Lean In”?
Welfare: There But For The Grace Of Jobs Go YOU
