I recently read a blog entry written by a mother who confessed she was beginning to think that she was not cut out to homeschool her children. She had had several children in quick succession and was seriously burnt out physically and emotionally. There were many comments on her post, but one stood out to me.

The commenter was admonishing the mother to basically suck it up and homeschool. This person said (and I think this is pretty close to the exact quote): “This isn’t about you. It’s about your child.”

I’ve thought about that comment for days. Mostly because I don’t agree with it.

It isn’t JUST about the children. Nothing in a family should be JUST about the children. The choice of schooling should be about the family. The children. The marriage. The father. The mother. It is a decision that effects everyone. To boil the question down to only what is good for the child… I don’t agree.

What a terrible burden to place on someone – to tell her that she basically has no choice and she is a selfish woman for being limited by her physical and emotional exhaustion.

Agree? Disagree? What would you tell someone in this position? Does the need of a child override everything in a family, including the health of the marriage or the mother and father?