The Willow Glen Resident

Some real moms have to work outside home

By Theresa Ruiz

Regarding Deborah Taylor-Hollis' commentary in the May 21 issue of the Willow Glen Resident ("Real Moms Know Bosco is a Food Group") I would like to respond to Teri Lynn Baron's June 21 letter regarding this article.

Ms. Baron, in my opinion you are very ignorant to what reality is in the United States for many single or married moms. We work because we have to contribute to our households and as a matter of real living. Like many other single moms, I am the sole support for my children. We do it by working one or two jobs because we don't receive child support. Many of us have applied and reapplied for child support, but our child-support system has such a heavy load that our children are put on the back burner. I have tried to get child support for nine years but get nowhere with the county of Santa Clara. As for child care, I do pay that myself--up to $500 per week--so I could raise my children properly. Sure, Ms. Baron, it must be nice to stay home to raise your children, but I think you have sat on your pedestal much too long. Obviously you live in a utopian world, a real fantasy. I wish I could stay home, but reality is reality.

If I'm an untraditional mom in your eyes, so be it. Ms. Baron, I also raise my family, keep a house, pay bills, go to PTA meetings, do homework with my children, teach CCD, go to school and act as both mother and father to my sons. Just like you, I feed my children properly, have them bathe and have them brush their teeth and have clean conditions. Ms. Baron, I do take responsibility for my children, and I probably do a better job than you do.

Also, Ms. Baron, never once did you mention that you love or nurture your children. Those two words are very important to raising children, everyone's children. With all my heart, I love and nurture my sons and guide them the best way I can and was taught. They do not suffer what you claim but see what "mom" has to do to make a better life for them. Ms. Baron, I have never been on welfare nor chosen to be. I have showed my sons by example that hard work, morals, love, nurturing, communication and closeness are what make a family.

Maybe many of us single or married working moms are not from your 1950s-1960s era, but I really think, Ms. Baron, that you should try to walk out the front door of your residence and check out the real world; it might do you good.

In closing, Ms. Baron, we real moms do work outside and inside the home, whether we are single or married. We do take care of our children and do a very good job of it. Ms. Baron, I chose to have my sons (by the way, I was married when I had them) and take care of them. Remember, like my Grandma used to say, your children are the ones who tell if you're a good mom. My sons tell me all the time that I am a terrific mom and the best at it.

Theresa Ruiz is a Willow Glen resident.

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