As you may see from the featured image – I’m annoyed today.
Last week I stumbled upon an article about questions that annoyed working moms. I popped onto Twitter and Instagram to check with my fellow working moms to see what kinds of annoying questions they’ve gotten – and boy did they deliver.
Just check out this thread on Twitter and see a sampling of some of the questions my fellow working moms have had to deal with.
I noticed two common themes with the questions:
- They’re intended to make working moms feel bad about working and/or
- They’re questions that no one would ever think to ask a working father. Can you imagine someone asking a dad “is your wife babysitting today?”
When I originally compiled the list, I had fifty total questions. But after weeding through them and combining similar ones, I settled on forty questions that totally annoy working moms.
Since I was so annoyed, I not only compiled the questions together for this article, but also created a video response (which is, let’s be honest, mostly me being sarcastic), a checklist for you to see how many of these you’ve had to deal with, and a bingo game for you to play with your working mom friends.
So it’s going to be a busy, annoying day. Let’s get started!
Responses To Questions That Annoy Working Moms – The Video
As I mentioned, I just don’t think responses to these on a blog can do justice to just how annoying these questions can be. So, I made a video responding to all of them. Be sure to check out my occasionally serious, but mostly sarcastic and funny, responses to all of them.
I’m sure you’d love to know what I think of such gems as “is your husband babysitting tonight?” (MEN DO NOT BABYSIT THEIR OWN CHILDREN), “why have kids if you’re going to work?” (learn about my secret love), and “how do you travel for work as a mom?” (spoiler alert – the same way dads do).
Forty Questions That Annoy Working Moms – The Ultimate List
Here it is – every question in the video, and the ultimate list of questions that annoy working moms.
- Why not quit your job?
- How do you handle it?
- How do you work such crazy hours?
- Why have kids if you’re going to work?
- How does work affect your home life?
- Why pay for daycare?
- You’re not going to have any more children – are you?
- OMG I keep forgetting! Or I didn’t know you were a mom? I didn’t know you had kids!?!?!
- Oh…did your mother work too?
- What happens if your kid gets sick?
- What do you do about dinner/laundry/carpool?
- Isn’t it nice to get away? (to the office)
- Do you have to work, or do you want to?
- What made you decide to go back to work?
- But isn’t it so hard?
- Will you need to leave early then?
- Why don’t you put them to bed earlier so you have more time to yourself?
- Have you ever had to bring your kid to work?
- Why did you have kids in the first place?
- Do you have access to childcare?
- Do you and your husband ever get any alone time?
- Aren’t you worried you’re missing out?
- Aren’t you worried about bonding?
- How is your house clean?
- Doesn’t your kid get sick a lot?
- My sister/co-worker/friend/neighbor/head of Yahoo came back to work days after having a baby. Why can’t you?
- Does your spouse help you with the household chores? Adding in laundry/cooking?
- “Are you going back full time? Who’s looking after the baby?” “Is it hard for you to leave the baby?” (rapid fire questions)
- Why don’t you stay at home until they start school?
- How will your husband handle taking care of the kids while you’re on a business trip?”
- Who is watching your son? But, where is your baby?!
- Are you going to stop working? / Are you reducing your working time?
- Don’t you miss them
- Are you really OK with someone else raising your children?
- Why do you leave early every day?
- “Is your husband babysitting tonight?
- How do you decide between your children and your career?
- How are you going to manage working and having a kid? (to pregnant women)
- You’re so busy – do you ever see your kids?
- How do you do it all?????
Your Personal Checklist
In case you’d like to easily capture just how many of these you’ve been asked, I made a handy checklist for you. Print it out and check them off! Be sure to leave a comment with your number below, or tag me on social media and let me know.
You can access a printer-friendly PDF of the checklist here. Or just click the image below and print it out.
Questions That Annoy Working Moms – Bingo Edition!
I couldn’t let the fun end there, so I created a bingo card for you to play a game with your working mom friends. Print out a few copies and see who hits “bingo!” first. The winner also loses!
I Want To Hear From You!
What questions did I miss? Which of these have you heard before – and is your least favorite? Do you have an amazing comeback to any of these to share? How many total questions did you get in the checklist? Let me know in the comments!
I would love to stay in touch!
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Resources And Thank Yous!
These questions are a combination of responses from Twitter and Instagram, articles, and my own personal experiences.
A big THANK YOU to all the folks on Twitter and Instagram who responded. Shout out to @amimakingcents, @eemusings, @SDARLIN22, @StephTheBlogger, @glennalynne, @TReadLightly_RE, @14yardsocial, @shaunakeesler, @emilyshirley, @KaytieZimms, @honistlyco, @JennWellsDesign, @memphisexpat, @ameliasugerman, @seymoore, and @beyonddollarpod. I’m sure I missed some, so if I did, let me know!
Here’s the articles (just in case you didn’t get annoyed enough):
Fairy Godboss – Eight questions working moms are sick of answering
Working mother – 20 Questions People Ask Working Moms They Would Never Think to Ask Working Dads
Moms.com 20 Rude Things People Say To Working Moms All. The. Time
Ana Just Ana – Five annoying questions not to ask a pregnant working mother
These are good!! Next, let’s list the annoying questions that women get when they don’t have children. 😡🤬😡
Yes! I hate it when I see the kinds of questions women without kids get. I might have three kids, but that doesn’t mean I think everyone should have them. There are sooo many reasons women don’t have kids.
OMG, this was the best. So needed this today.
So true! How do you handle these questions? other than a pointed stare?
This was great! Can you do a video of the top questions that annoy stay at home dads? That’s a perspective I don’t hear often, even with my husband as a stay at home dad 🙂
Funny thing – my husband suggested that exact thing this weekend! I think that would be a great follow up
We have coffee chat series at work where 20 odd folks meet with department head. They give overview and they it is Q&A time. One time since the speaker mentioned their spouse and kids and how they were a priority, I asked how they dealt with work-life balance. Not sure the man had ever been asked that. I think as long as the individual volunteers information about family you can ask polite questions. We should ask men about their family.