For some reason I agreed to speak to my son’s second grade class about my  (former) “occupation.”  At the beginning of the year I filled out a form describing what I do, or used to do for a living.  I wrote down that I could talk to the kids about having a career in Television…chasing a story down and covering Entertainment news for CNN and Business news for PBS.  Now I find myself with 20 minutes of time to fill.  I can tell them how to write a good story, cover the 5 W’s.  I can quote my J Prof. and tell them that no matter what the subject, a good story is a good story is a good story. That being said, I haven’t done this job full-time for eight years now so it feels kind of fraudulent.  I am a stay-at-home mom and while I consider it the hardest and yet most important and rewarding job I’ll ever have, it doesn’t sound nearly as exciting.  So, how do you tell people what you do?  If you work outside of the home do you say you are a mom first? 

I stood at a cocktail party this winter next to a stay-at-home mom/former trauma surgeon and listened as someone asked her what she did.  “I’m just a mom.” she said sweetly and never let on that she was probably the brightest one in the room.  That didn’t sound right either.

They’ve had a dentist speak to their class and they came home with some floss and a new toothbrush.  I will be handing out reporter’s notebooks if I can find them.  Wish me luck.