People still don't understand stay at home moms. One of the worst questions people ask is "When are you going to get a job?".
I chose to stay home with my kids and I will tell you, there were times when I wanted nothing more than to be a working woman. Being a stay at home mom is a SACRIFICE. Contrary to popular belief it is not about sitting at home, watching soap operas and reality TV and getting fat. Okay maybe the getting fat part, but that happens to working moms too. Being at home with your kids is hard. You don't get a lunch break. You're on 24/7.
When my kids were younger, people would say I should put them in daycare and work. Have you ever weighed those options? A woman with no degree, working a job under $10/hr, paying daycare, gas, eating lunch out, clothes for work... expenses add up. What I'd make would only pay for what I was using. The option was to stay home, raise my kids, teach them to read before they went to kindergarten, see them off to school, meet them at the door when they get home, ask them about their day, help them with their homework, cook for them, spend time with them, give them attention, keep them out of trouble, be.their.mom...
I stayed home and for me, that was my gift to them. It's a sacrifice, on finanace, on my identity, on my self-worth at times. It was a sacrifice, because I'd watch mom's around me do it all. Career, education, home life. It made me feel inferior.
And the questions about "When are you going to get a job?", those questions from people who didn't GET IT were like knives sometimes. My job has been my kids. And I have excelled and managed my team well. It may not pay as much as yours, it doesnt come with medical benefits or a retirement check, but I can guarantee my reward is much much greater in the end.
~Inspired by an early morning conversation with A STAY-AT-HOME MOM.
