"When I grow up, I don't want to be a mom"

"When I grow up, I don't want to be a mom". My 7 year old has said this to me several times.  It always makes me a little sad.  I figured I wasn't letting her know how much I love being a mom.  Maybe I complain too much about the not so fun parts of being a mom, like changing diapers and dealing with whining children.  I think I'm extra sensitive to the comment also because when I was growing up, if you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would say "A mom".  The mom guilt was setting in every time my daughter made this comment.

Well, last night at dinner I finally discovered the source for the comment.  I was asking my children what they wanted to do for a job when they grew up. These answers are constantly varying from Lego designer to rockstar dressmaker.  Here was my 7 year old's response.

7 yr old: "I don't want to be a mom when I grow up."

Me: "Why not? I love being a mom.  It's the best thing ever."

7 yr old: "Does every mom have to do taxes? I don't want to do taxes."

I can now breathe a sigh of relief.  Apparently it's not that she doesn't want to be a Mom when she grows up.  She doesn't want to be a CPA and do taxes for clients like her mom does.  She thought that because her mom works from home and does taxes, that every mom has to do that.  That's it's just part of being a mom.  After much laughter, we explained to her that no, not every mom does taxes.  She can be a mom and still do something else.  I love getting rid of mommy guilt.