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Resist, Refuse, Regroup by Pamela Francis


I’ll admit that the same day I stumbled upon Motherhood Later Than Sooner.com I was on the prowl for some serious commiseration. I was feeling down. Put upon. Bamboozled by my choices; and I needed to hear someone else echo same. I remember typing the keywords “moms on strike” into my google search bar and being routed to an article written by a freelance blogger who chronicled her 7-day experience “going on strike” against her family’s laziness and lack of appreciation for what she meant to their home operating at optimum. It was quite amusing, touching, and oh so close to home to hear this woman — a work-from-home momtrepreneur much like myself — detail how she stopped being the dishwasher, laundry maid, lunch packer, dinner maker, school bus alarm clock and kid chauffeur for her spoiled brood and their misguided father. Misguided in that he revealed to his wife a point of view our own dear daddy has had the audacity to express; something to the effect of… “I resent that I have to work hard outside the home so that you can stay home and have it good.” Or some such nonsense.

Aside from the fact that a lot of men (and children) don’t have a clue as to how much we women/wives/moms can barely stand to live in the same house as they, these same men (and children) don’t know how much goes into us women maintaining our own personal joy in spite of the thankless, monotonous, insulting drudgery that is motherhood/wifedom at times.  As such, I wanted women — moms and wives — to know that you don’t have to wait to be mistreated or overworked or unappreciated in order to “go on strike”. Quite the contrary. “No” has become my middle name. That, and “I’m-not-doing-that”, because I am the only female in a house with 3 males, and if I don’t practice resist/refuse/regroup on a regular basis, I’m dead meat.

Now I’m not big on New Year’s Resolutions. But if you’re looking for a new habit to slip into, and you’ve been feeling down, put upon and bamboozled by your choices… try your hand at Resist/Refuse/Regroup. Because you don’t have to wait until you’re being taken for granted to “go on strike”.

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