If you are a frequent Twitter-user who is tapped into all things “mommy blogging,” then you might have caught wind of a recent controversy sparked by one outspoken Twitter user. Believe it or not, this woman seems to think that working mothers are unable to properly provide for their families. The stay-at-home-mom proponent put her thoughts into a flowchart, which she then posted to her Twitter account:
Should mothers have careers? pic.twitter.com/SKfson8kgR
— Lori Alexander (@laalex2) December 5, 2018
The controversial flowchart comes from a Twitter user by the name of Lori Alexander (@laalex2) who describes herself as “a wife, a mother, a grandma, and a keeper at home.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Alexander successfully stirred up a lot of emotions in the Twittersphere. Naturally, there were some folks that came up with some pretty choice, expletive-filled responses, but there were also others who used the platform to explain how both them and their own mothers were able to both work AND raise happy, healthy families.
My mom worked, so I could get a good education. My Dad would cook and clean. And we were a family. Your attempt to put walls around “jobs” in a family and relegate it to one person because of their sex is incredibly stupid and shows the lack of creativity and reasoning you have.
— 👾Joe Hill 🐙 (@vintagejoehill) December 7, 2018
Another Twitter-user, SaBreezie, shares her work and family life successes with Lori Alexander:
As a working mother my dinners are home-cooked, I always spend quality time with my children after work, clean daily not just on weekends, and have absolutely NO problems with intimacy. My life isn’t falling apart it’s very fulfilling and I know I’m a great mother and wife!
— 🇲🇽SaBreezie🇮🇪 (@SF_Gamerbabe11) December 7, 2018
One user, @punkrockgirlpa, jumped into the comments section to explain to Alexander that not all stay-at-home moms act in accordance with the flowchart, making the entire argument pretty much moot:
I had a stay at home “mom” she was lazy, neglectful, verbally abusive, and had an affair on my father…my dad cooked, cleaned, worked, played with us, tucked us in, read to us, he did everything! We love him because he was everything to us, he’s still our superhero!
— punkrockgirlpa (@punkrockgirlpa) December 8, 2018
She certainly does have a point! Even if we ignore the fact that most Americans can’t make it on one income, a stay-at-home mom doesn’t automatically represent a GREAT mom. And, as evidenced by the stories above, working mothers serve as great sources of inspiration for their kiddos.
Whether or not you agree with this stay-at-home mom supporter, there’s no denying that she made some pretty tremendous waves online. Although she doesn’t even have 1,000 followers, her hotly-debated flowchart has been liked over 5,000 times, retweeted 1,200 times, and contains a staggering 7,000 comments.
That said, a vast majority of the comments posted below the chart were highly negative, which leads us to believe that Anderson’s 15 minutes of viral fame will quickly come to an end. Good riddance!
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this new Twitter controversy. Are you surprised that Lori Alexander’s flow chart has gone viral? Do you think it serves as a fair representation for working mothers and stay-at-home moms? What would your response be to this problematic Twitter user?