My full-time job is being a mom. Raising kids is such an honor and most of the time I love it, but sometimes I feel like I’m going CRAZY! It’s hard work (not to mention that you don’t get a lot of credit for being a mom). It’s morning until night, constant, from the first years when you’re nursing and changing diapers until the days when you’re getting ready to send kids off to college.
My kids are both in high school now and my duties today include; packing lunches (I know I don’t HAVE to do this, but I want to. They do get their own breakfasts), doing laundry, ironing my daughter’s dress to wear when she performs in a talent show tonight, walking the dogs (also mom duty), picking up my son’s computer and dropping money off for his summer basketball camp, getting the oil changed in the Jeep, going for a run (probably not gonna happen), picking up a boom stand for the talent show, doing dishes, taking out recycle and cleaning the house for company this weekend, working on my novel and my upcoming speech (definitely not gonna happen), mailing a scholarship application for my daughter, cheering my daughter on at her softball game, figuring out how to get her some dinner as she runs to talent show rehearsal and then figure out dinner for in-laws and my son (most likely gonna order Thai food) and then, go to sleep and start again tomorrow.
That’s being a mom and I wouldn’t change it for the world. But it’s also hard to keep it all together and not totally lose yourself. For me, my kids come first, but sometimes I just want to scream, “What about me?” I want to do nothing every once in a while and as a mom, you don’t get that chance very often and you don’t get any monetary supplement for your work. Of course you get paid by seeing your kids grow into young adults and knowing that you where a huge part of who they have become, but that doesn’t help pay the bills.
I was talking with a friend of mine the other day and she said that recently a woman had asked her what she did for a living, my friend told me that it was difficult for her to tell the woman that she is a stay-at-home mom. My friend explained that when talking to the gal, she quickly added some of the volunteer work she was doing because she felt like she had to justify being at home. Unfortunately, this is often the case.
How nice it would be feel comfortable to proudly tell the world, “I’m a full-time mom!” No explanation other than that, and have the world understand that we are not sitting at home eating Bon Bons and watching soap operas. (Though that sure does sound good.)
Maybe you are not a full-time mom, but you can relate because you feel this way about your job. No matter what others may think about what you do for a living, Mom, Mechanic, Mathematician, or Musician, take pride in the way you choose to live your life!
Well said, mama!