.

Some things just aren’t as black and white as they seem. I think this should be obvious to most people, but from the perspective of someone who is a child, who until very recently was still living under her parent’s roof and still relies on her parents for tuition, money for food/clothes/extras/etc.

Neither Mr. Rosen nor Mrs. Romney is completely right or completely wrong.

Motherhood is certainly a job. Raising 5 boys isn’t easy. Is it aided by the fact they have more money than I’d even know what to do with (other than pay for tuition)? Certainly. But her husband has been professionally running for President for awhile now, and that can’t be all sunshine and roses. Nor can it be fun to be Mitt Romney’s wife sometimes, I’m sure. No one is perfect.

I grew up around a lot of kids who’s mothers didn’t work. I was one of the few in my elementary school who had nannies and babysitters picking me up from school and taking care of me. It bothered me sometimes, particularly in my young teen years. But overall, I loved having older girls, college girls drive me around and talk with me. I got to talk to them about things I never could have told my parents. Sarah was the one who helped me deal with bullies, and who’d send me flowers at school when I had a show that evening she couldn’t attend. I liked hearing all about Amanda dating her boyfriend and getting engaged and having to hide it from her sorority sisters for almost a week (which was unbearable for her). Hell, if Brooke hadn’t driven me home from acting class that one day, I’m not sure I ever would have come out of the closet in high school.

But I know how hard my mom worked too. Those babysitters did not replace my mom. Mom worked long hours, and although my dad had odd jobs here and there, she was the foundation of our family. And I’d like to think I turned out pretty good – so yes, you can work long, hard hours and raise a kid.

Neither is better or worse than the other. Some have different challenges, that you can say make one life or the other harder or easier. It’s all subjective, and in this case, neither Ann Romeny nor Hilary Rosen speaks for all women in America and their situations. Does Mitt Romney sound kind of silly when she says he asks Ann to speak for all the women of America and what their concerns are? Yeah, it sounds ridiculous. To me, the same words would sound equally silly out of Barack Obama’s mouth – and that might partially be the result of the fact that Obama tends to speak in the specific and then the broad. He can tell a story about one woman who talked to him about her plight and then talk about all the women who share that concern, and it sounds interesting. Romney saying he ASKS his wife for opinions on ALL women, instead of asking lots of other women himself makes him sound ridiculous.

To me, Mitt Romney could start to solve his gender gap problem by talking to women and citizens, trying to connect with them, instead of just asking for his wife’s opinion. It’s that easy.