It’s called the Secret Life of a Soccer Mom. Here’s the premise: A longtime stay-at-home mom is given another chance at the career she once dreamed of. Whether it’s fashion designer, police officer, or restaurant chef. She literally gets a fantasy week on the job – without telling her family what she’s up to. At the end, she gets to choose whether to restart her career – or stay home and her husband and kids will happily accept her decision.

The result? The show has really hit a nerve among viewers. According to Newsweek magazine, after the first episode aired, blogs and message boards were flooded with angry comments from stay-at-home moms. They were incredibly angry at the idea that a woman needs a career to feel fulfilled. They accused women who want more out of life than motherhood of being “sick” and “selfish.” Critics also said that putting a child in daycare while mom goes to work is literally child abandonment. One writer sniped that “unless her family’s about to starve, mothers should not be working!”

It was hard for them to understand that a woman who could stay home and be a full-time-mom would choose to focus on her career instead.
Reality shows aren’t always realistic. Women have been in the workforce for decades – and many of them don’t have a choice. Today, 70 percent of North American women who have kids under 18 work outside the home. Mostly because the high cost of living requires two incomes. Also, getting yourself back into the job market isn’t that easy. Many women who return to the workforce after a long absence discover that they don’t have current skills, especially with computers. They also discover that juggling home, family and a full-time job means a lot of sacrifices.