Minivan Soccer Mom

Apparently I'm a glutton for punishment because recently I made the choice to read through the comments section of a news article. Nothing will drop your IQ faster. I ended up reading a statement that set off a trigger of defensiveness. "I swear if I get cutoff by one more minivan soccer mom I'm going to..." I read this days ago and the term has continued to pointlessly rattle around in my already busy mind. Why?

The most obvious reason I feel defensive is because I do not want to fall into anyone's stereotype. Even when I do meet the stereotype. Everyone wants to feel unique, even moms. That's the thing, the statement reduces the minivan mom to just a minivan mom and nothing more. It takes away anything individual and places all assumption on that horrible, no good, very bad, minivan. I get it, I didn't want to get a minivan because of everything the vehicle implied. I'm certain some hipster somewhere has seen my hoard pile out of our van and had a jolly laugh at the sheer obviousness on the visual. Hello, my name is Mom and I drive a minivan.And, my minivan gets the job done. You can use a hand saw to get through a 2x4 but a power saw makes it easier. I can drive something more fashionable but my minivan makes my job easier. Frankly, it's time to upgrade to the conversion van but my husband won't like the airbrushed wolves howling at the moon on the side.

Hello, my name is Mom and I drive a minivan. I am a soccer mom, and a football mom, and a taekwondo mom, and a dance mom, and a wrestling mom, and a Home and School mom, and a basketball mom, and a theater mom, and a baseball mom, and, and, and.  It's my job and it's ok. For the past decade I've heard and read so many things on women empowering other women and how important our work for each other is. That empowerment doesn't stop at the job of mom. Too often we're told how we should mom and what mom should look like. One group of moms judges the second and expects the members of their group to conform to their vision of moming. Be honest, we've all done it. Look around at school pick up. You know exactly which moms do the gluten free-Bento Box thing, which moms highly value their manicures and Coach purses, which moms smoke and/or swear in front of their kids, which moms are the Pinterest moms, which moms allow which video games, which moms helicopter and which moms should watch more carefully. So, yep, I'm a soccer mom but please don't think that's all I am! Please don't place me in that minivan shaped box. I want to talk to all the other moms about what's important to them and share what we've all learned on this journey.

So next time you're cut off by the minivan soccer mom be mad that their a bad driver. Call them a bad driver. That's a factual statement. Don't judge them further than that. Then lay on the horn like the rest of the world.