Terry McMillan: Tooth Fairy Resume
on Thursday, August 22, 2019Terry McMillan Money Quote saying that moms must be competent at dozens of skills to care for their family, including tooth fairy duty. Terry McMillan said:
“Being a lifetime wife and mother has afforded me the luxury of having multiple careers: I’ve been a teacher. A chauffeur. A chef. An interior decorator. A landscape architect, as well as a gardener. I’ve been a painter. A personal shopper. An accountant and a banker. I’ve been a beautician. Santa Claus. The Tooth Fairy. A movie reviewer. A nurse. A psychologist. A negotiator. An I have a Ph. D in How to Pretend Like You Don’t Mind” — Terry McMillan
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In this quote, Terry McMillan is humorously yet pointedly listing all of the various roles and responsibilities she has taken on as a lifelong mother and wife in addition to her primary career as an author. She notes that through raising her family, she has essentially had “multiple careers” by serving as a teacher, driver, cook, decorator and more to her children in meeting their daily needs. McMillan also mentions fulfilling more fanciful jobs like Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and movie reviewer to entertain her kids.
Underlying this lighthearted tone is a serious message – that the domestic labor of childrearing and homemaking, disproportionately shouldered by women, encompasses an immense range of skills and demands that would each constitute a full-time career on their own. By concluding with earning a “Ph. D in How to Pretend Like You Don’t Mind”, McMillan humorously but powerfully conveys that mothers must often mask the immense effort required to expertly juggle countless roles behind a facade of effortlessness.
Overall, the quote celebrates mothers’ superhuman strengths while critiquing the undervaluation of their monumental yet invisible contributions.