Mum's viral post praising stay-at-home mothers ignites social media debate with working parents

A mother from Florida, US, has sparked controversy on Facebook with a post meant to compliment stay-at-home mothers.

Ryshell Castleberry originally took to Facebook to praise the efforts of stay-at-home mums.

The lengthy statement starts with Ryshell sharing a conversation between a husband and a psychologist, where the man describes his wife's busy daily routine of being a stay-at-home mother, but constantly remarks that 'she doesn't work'.

Ryshell then goes on to write: 'This is the daily routine of many women all over the world, it starts in the morning and continues until the wee hours of the night... This is called "doesn't work"?!

'Being a housewife has no diplomas, but has a key role in family life! Enjoy and appreciate your wife, mother, grandma, aunt, sister, daughter... Because their sacrifice is priceless.'

https://www.facebook.com/ryshell.cole/posts/1026867157369848

So far the post has been shared over 186,000 and has over 500,000 likes since it was posted on 3rd March.

However, it was deemed by many to be a recognition solely of the work mums who stay at home to care for their family do, and hit a nerve with working mothers.

Many mums have commented to say they do everything stay-at-home mothers to, but with less time because of their jobs:

Gina Welker Palmateer: 'Its also the daily routine of working women. They just have 8 hours a day less to do it all'
Stephanie Ann R: 'I work a 40-50 hr week and still do all that!'
Ashlie Stallings: 'I work full time plus all this.'
Louie Tsagaris: 'Than there are the women who do work & also do that as well!!!!'

Others also commented to agree with the post:

Samantha Howell: 'Awesome! Beautiful portrait i get a lot of slack for not having a, "job." I have four kids, breast fed them all until age of two, and their father is sitting in a cell for the next twenty. I'm a mom, I'm a warrior, and this is a full time job!!! #parentingisajob'
James L'Heureux: 'Being a mother is more than a full time job. I have respect for anyone willing to take care of their kids and their man. I don't have children but I've had a taste of taking care of children and I'm happy with my job, I don't work near as hard, lol.'
Christina Lee Yes: 'very true a mommy is a full time job!'

After being shocked by the huge reaction her post had, Ryshell replied to all the 'nasty' comments by clarifying that she does work part-time, and that the post was just a general story, not meant to be taken literally.

'I KNOW this situation does not fit everyone's lifesytle, it is not a post for everyone, AND WAS NEVER INTENDED TO BE. I posted this to my personal FB wall, expecting no more than my usual 100-200 likes. I didn't intend to go viral, get hate messages, praise messages, thousands of comments from all angles or thousands of friend requests, (which are actually inconvient, seeing as how I need clients to request me for my JOB) Anyway, this statement was so generalized that it wasn't even specific to my life either...

'Because I am a regular mom who helps pull the monetary load and gets help with the load at home. I am VERY HAPPY in my relationship and with how amazing my fiance is as a father', she added.

Can we just agree that all mothers are amazing?