We all come pre-hyphenated right out of the box. And, of course, most men don’t need to be told ‘not to just be a dad’ because cultural expectations are terribly different. In being told to ‘not just be a mom,’ we’re supposed to take on the mantles of great wife, confidant, lover, etc…which isn’t about us at all.

It is completely about the “image” that people want us to have as women, keeping us in the ‘safe’ box, of course. Keep us busy so we can’t cause problems. Keep us occupied so we don’t notice that we’re enslaved to keeping things status quo.

I prefer to think of the idea of “being more than just mom” as being myself outside of expectations and following my own path. But the answer to the statement, “don’t just be a mom” is, “I’m already more than that, duh.”