On Becoming an Official Soccer Mom

I am not exactly sure why the term "soccer mom" is so widely used. We rarely hear about "karate mom" or "baseball mom", or "wrestling mom", or even "football mom", although I know a lot more of these. Yet, when the term is used, we all probably conjure up the same mental image; you know, the woman wearing "mom jeans", a sweatshirt and sneakers, a perpetual ponytail in her hair. She typically drives a minivan or some sort of large SUV (almost always with some type of bumper sticker about her children), always has Wonder Bread in the house, and likes to make a lot of casseroles involving various types of condensed soups. I have to admit, I was already on my way to becoming the stereotypical all-American mom. I've got the perpetual ponytail down to an art. I actually dry my hair maybe one or two days out of seven. The minivan came a few years ago, and I have made my fair share of casseroles utilizing cream of chicken soup as a main ingredient. When I took Morgan to her first official soccer practice yesterday, I was not exactly wearing mom jeans.......they were maternity jeans........which probably actually trump mom jeans......they are "going to be a mom again" jeans. So, I guess I've got that one down too. I was, however, wearing a stylish trench coat and some tortoise shell shades. All right, all right, I know the denial needs to end. Time to face the music. I am a soccer mom. No way around it now. On top of all the other details, I now actually have a child that plays soccer! So, why should this make me feel depressed? Maybe because of the way society tells moms we should be these days. Though there has been a trend recently of praising stay-at-home motherhood, there is still an underlying message that "just" being a stay-at-home mom is not enough. We now must run successful online businesses, or do some sort of other work from home to be considered valuable members of society. Never mind that we already fulfill the job of a nurse, a teacher, a maid, a cook, a waitress, a taxi service, a counselor, and a dry cleaner. Apparently this is not enough. People seem to think that the 1950's image of the stay-at-home mom is preposterous; she had to iron in high heals and make everything from scratch. Now, we just have to make everything "green" and "organic" and donate the plethora of spare time we are apparently suppose to have after nursing, teaching, cleaning, cooking, waiting tables, taxiing, counseling, and doing five loads of laundry a day, to our other job, or to some type of volunteer work. I believe it is very important to teach future generations to take care of our planet. I don't mean to minimize this. I also believe in helping others and in raising children who will grow up to do the same. I also firmly believe when our children are grown, that they will probably not remember that mom was wearing frumpy, out of style jeans, or (heck- let's be realistic) pajamas when they came home from school most days. They will hopefully simply remember that mom was there. I must add that I have the utmost respect for all of the moms I know who work outside the home. You have two full time jobs, and I honestly don't know how you do it. Maybe someday I will be compelled to join you. As for now, I am grateful to be blessed enough to have a job that centers around the two (soon to be three) people I love the most. However, I think the only way to fully cleanse myself of the shame of the soccer mom stigma may be to break down and get that bumper sticker.