Question for the Stay At Home Mom's or Dad's??

Question

I find it very insulting for people to say "Stay At Home Mom's or Dad's do not work". I work all hours of the day there is no start or end to my shift. Before I was a Mother and worked in the Biotech Industry my day started and ended. Having said this I find it insulting to hear stay at home mom's do not work. How about other Stay At Home Parents??

Answer 1

It's definately insulting and a HUGE misconception. GOOD parents work 24/7 and you're very right...no end to your shift. You never get the opportunity to "clock out" so to speak.
It's also the most IMPORTANT job there is on the face of this earth and it should be taken very seriously.

Unfortunately our society tends to see a woman eating Bon-Bon's in their minds eye when they think of "stay at home Mom"...
There are certainly plenty of those in our profession as there are in any profession, but reality of those folks is that they aren't stay at home parents at all....they would be classified simply as "lazy losers".

I appreciate and in fact advocate at least one parent choosing to make their career their children and family. It's admirable and it would never be able to pay what it's worth when it's done well!

Congrats on the GOOD and WISE choice you've made. It's a very NOBLE career!

Answer 2

I agree. As a stay at home mom, my work day starts from the time my feet hit the floor till I lay back down at night. Today alone, I have washed, dried, folded and put away 4 loads of clothes, fixed 3 meals, washed dishes twice (and I DO NOT have an automatic dishwasher), cleaned up toys 3 times, vacuumed and dusted everything in the house, cleaned and mopped my bathroom, swept and mopped my kitchen, bathed 2 boys, played with my boys in between cleaning, and finally about an hour ago, put those 2 wonderful boys to bed. I don't care what other people have to say about stay at home Mommy's (or dad's)!!! They don't have to live a day in our shoes. They think we are all "Peg Bundy's", sitting around watching soaps and eating bon-bon's all day. Whatever!!!

Answer 3

I couldn't agree with you more! I am a stay at home mom too. I have a one year old and a 6 year old. Actually, this past week is a perfect example of what you said. My husband has been out of town for the past week to go to a funeral. My 6 year old came down with the flu. Now, anyone who has kids in their house knows that when one person gets it, it's only a matter of time until everyone else does too. The day after my son gets sick, I come down with it. I'm up all night with him as he's throwing up and I'm doing the same. Two days later my daughter starts to get sick. So, just when I'm starting to get better she is up all night sick. To make it worse she got her MMR vaccine a few days before, so now she's getting rashes and stuff from that. I've had about 12 hours of sleep in the past 4 days. There really is no end to your job and you get no time off, vacation or sick days. It is a tough job, but I wouldn't want to do anything else!

Answer 4

I agree with you, and our pay doesn't go up either,and we get no vacations being a stay at home mom is not an easy task. I sat down one day and wrote down everything I did, For instance...
A cook, A baby sitter, A Chauffeur, A maid, A nurse, A referee, A teacher, A Gardner etc etc. I could go on But you know what its like. So when these so called people start talking Just remind them that they could never afford you and apparently they are not parents, so ignore the ignorance of them. Because at the end of the day the smile of your child is worth every moment your with them. Good Job MOM

Answer 5

Well for me, it doesn't really bother me, because i know the people making those comments have no idea what we do when we are at home taking care of the children 24/7, while doing other household chores as well. But at the same time, i know my husband (who is a soldier in the army) works his butt off as well. We all have our part in making our family run smoothly. Its a little insulting...i am pregnant (33 weeks) and have twins who are 2 1/2 years old. I was on the phone with my brother, telling him the DR may put me on bedrest, and he said "well cant you just laydown anytime you want to anyways? isnt that what you do now" I just said, with 2 year old twins, no its not what i do. But the comment did bother me, so i feel you when you say it bothers you when people say that we do not work. But ya know, most of the time i ignore it. I have other things to do then worry about what people think i do all day. :-)

Answer 6

The folks who say that are usually the ones who are jealous because they want to be able to stay at home with their families. I am also a stay-at-home mom. Thankfully, I have never had anyone insult me that way. Most folks I know (or at least the ones I choose to associate myself with) acknowledge the fact that at home parents are the hardest workers of all, and they all feel that it is the hardest job too! Try not to let it bother you, because you are doing the right thing! Who better to raise your child than you, because no one love them more or wants to see them succeed more in life than you do! Keep up the good work!

Answer 7

Stay at home moms have very tough jobs to do. We are FULL TIME Nurses, Day care providers, Chef, Housekeeper, CEO, Chauffeur,Teacher, General Maintenance Worker, Counselor, Entertainer, Laundress, Accountant...we are On Call 24-hours a day, 7 days a week. And unless you have experienced being a stay-at-home mom, you have no clue what you are talking about.

Answer 8

The first couple of years when I heard "you're just a mom" or "you stay at home" I ignored it. But about the last 3 yrs or so when people ask what my profession is I reply "I work at home." This is always followed by "In what field?" and I say "Parenting. I'm a Mom." People always chuckle but it makes me feel better.

Answer 9

I agree with you to a point. I feel SAHMs work just as hard as working parents but I do not feel either works harder. It irritates me when SAHM poke or say their job is HARDER then a working parent's job. The way I see it is that stay-at-home-mothers also have breaks. The kids do go down for naps or go to school. You can take a minute to yourself. If we didn't then how could we all be on here even if it's just five-ten minutes a day?

I think the divide goes both ways. I think we should all respect each others choices in lifestyle.

Answer 10

I worked at a full time job up until 2 years ago. now I was in management and worked 5-6 days a week. Let me tell you I work more now than I did at my job! Im constantly running doing grocery shopping, banking, etc. I go to my kids school as a room mom and volunteer with their reading program. The after school activities have me running then too.

I gets me upset too. Its never ending. Even when my husband comes home from work, hes able to sit on the couch and relax. Im still in the kitchen making dinner, then cleaning up, getting baths, laying out outfits for the next school day, etc. LOL

I wouldn't change it though for the world though. I love being there for my kids and not having to shove them into day care.