Angry in the Great White North

From the Irish Examiner (via Drudge):

Latina beauty Jennifer Lopez is considering quitting her music and movie career to become a full-time mother.

The Jenny From The Block star believes you can't be a successful mother and wife and have a job - so she's prepared to give up work to devote herself to her family.

She explains: "Either you are going to be a bad mom and be a really good career woman and wife, or a good mom and career woman and bad wife, or a good mom and a good wife and your career is going to suck."

So how does that apply to men, who traditionally have to fulfill the role of husband, father, and breadwinner?

I'd fully respect her decision if she had said she couldn't do all three, or do them as well as she'd like. But for some of us, we don't have a choice. I can't earn vast amounts of money by traipsing about in a thong or being photographed in a fishnet top. Decent money, probably, but certainly not enough that I could simply retire and devote my time to being a husband and father. So I try to do my best in all three roles (and always wearing boxers, by the way).

Practically speaking, one parent often stays at home, giving up work, at least for a while. To suggest, though, that the other working parent is somehow failing in some fashion is a bit insulting.

I think that Lopez has to realize that work for most people work is a 9-to-5 affair, so there are plenty of hours in the morning, evening, and weekends to fulfill those other roles. Not all of us spend weeks or even months on movie sets on location, or going from city to city on tour. Perhaps that kind of job gets in the way of being a spouse and parent -- I can buy that.

Jennifer Lopez should consider offering her advice to other busy celebrities only. The rest of us proles are doing fine, muddling along, apparently unnoticed and clearly not understood by the likes of Jennifer Lopez.