Anyone Who Thinks Staying At Home With Kids Isn’t ‘Work’ Can Kindly STFU

Fit mom tells Instagram what her days are really like

You’d think that by now, after all the books and blogs and websites that talk about what it’s really like to be a mother, the motherhood mystique would be well and truly demolished. Amazingly, however, there are still people who think that being a mom involves a lot of sitting and bon bons (What the heck is a bon bon, by the way? Is it chocolate? Can I buy them at Costco? Because they sound delicious.) Even more amazingly, there are people who still think it’s ok to voice that opinion out loud, which is what some unfortunate soul did on Anna Strode’s Instagram page last week.

Strode, whose Instagram page is called Bubs2Bikinis, is a super fit mom who posts a lot of images of her getting her exercise in despite having twin toddlers and another baby on the way. She’s pretty kick-ass. But last week someone made a comment on her Facebook page that was unkind and inaccurate, and Strode decided to answer back.

Apparently, someone who doesn’t know how the internet works and lacks basic empathy wrote something on Strode’s page to the effect of: “I wish I got to stay home all day and exercise with my child, instead I have to go to work and do WORK.” Does this person really think because all of Strode’s pictures are of her working out, then that is all she does all day? Do they also think that contestants on The Bachelor are there for true love and that The Kardashians is a documentary? The woman’s page is devoted to showing how you can stay fit with young children. She’s not going to show pictures of her hosing down her dog because one of the kids decided to pee on it (which could totally happen).

Second, how about don’t be an asshole. Just saying.

Anyway — Strode was, of course, hurt by this comment. “Work,” she wrote, “You think I don’t WORK?! You think I sit at home all day and twiddle my thumbs? You think 2 x 22 month old toddlers just let me kick my feet up all day after I’ve done my morning workout? You think I’m beaming with energy as I grow a new baby and frantically do my best to keep up with twin boys that run rings around me?!”

As a mother of twins myself, I can testify that taking care of two two-year-olds is no picnic. Or, it is a picnic if that picnic takes place during a tornado and you forgot to bring food and your blanket is made of fire. I also worked until my kids were about four, and unless you are working on an oil rig or as a prison guard you cannot convince me that any job is harder than raising kids just because it’s a “job.” I would get to work and feel like I was on vacation — eating a full meal? Sitting? Talking to grown-ups? Accomplishing tasks? H-e-a-v-e-n. So, enough with that nonsense.

Strode provided a glimpse of what her days are really like: “Just to break it down… I exercise for 20-30 minutes a day. Sometimes stopping 20 times throughout to fetch toys, bring food, stop hair pulling, break up fights over toys and some days, stopping 2 minutes in because it just ain’t happening that day!…My days are spent changing shitty nappies, dealing with tantrums, playing cars and trucks, making food that gets thrown on the floor before it’s even tasted, walking the streets trying to get tired, grumpy children to nap…” I’ll stop the quote there because I’m getting some fairly exhausting flashbacks. Some people might roll their eyes and say, “Yeah, and I bet she deals with all of that by noon, right?” Try 9am motherfucker.

Strode has gotten a lot of support from other folks on her page who are backing her up and showing this hard-working mom of two some love. And for the record, we’d like to point out that in half the images she is directly engaging with one or both of her kids while swing a weight over her head or doing squats, for example. The woman’s a bad ass and shame on anyone who thinks that just because she is making her own health a priority then that means she is neglecting her kids. Motherhood involves a lot of sacrifice, but sacrifice should not mean martyrdom.

Also stop being mean to strangers on the internet ok cool thanks.

(h/t Fit Pregnancy)