Must Be Nice…

"I could never do what you do. I'd die without adult conversation."

"This implies, 'You must be simpler than me, so you can tolerate it,'" says Steiner. One stay-at-home mom, Heather of Charleston, S.C., has even been referred to as Mary Poppins—to which she responded, "Um, Mary Poppins got paid." Whether intentionally condescending or accidentally so, these kinds of comments sometimes stem from someone else's insecurity about their own role as a parent. "There's a lot of jealousy on both sides—from working moms and stay-at-home moms, because honestly, neither situation is easy," says Steiner. "It's like what we all went through in seventh grade—if you can't feel great about what you're doing, the next best thing is to feel better than someone else, so you put her choices down."