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guilt

Being Grateful to be a Stay at Home Mom

Posted in Blog, Parenting

Day 26-9:54 pm: This afternoon I was talking to some of my friends at a party. We were chatting and they were telling me all about their full-time jobs. They have their hubbies drop their kids off and pick them up from daycare 5 days a week from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. Sometimes their kid is the first one at daycare, and they feel guilt. Guilt that their kid is the first one there. Guilt that they can’t spend more time with them. Guilt that their kid has to be at daycare all day everyday. It once again reminded me how amazing it is to be a stay at home mom.

It reminds me to be grateful to be a stay at home mom.

Some moms I know love having a full-time job. They like having the outside stimulation, not to mention the nice bit of money they have to contribute back to their family. Some moms I know couldn’t wait to go back to work, not because they didn’t want to be with their kid, but because they need to be out of the house doing something other then dishes. (I know, dishes drive me crazy too). I really do have so much respect for moms who work full time.

I don’t understand how they make it work. How they balance (there’s that word again!) work and being a parent. It seems so hard to work all day then come home and make dinner or clean the house. Truly it sounds exhausting. So, like I said, I have a great deal of respect for the mom who works full time. I can’t express that enough.

Being a stay at home mom, to me, is wonderful. I never had that urge to go back to work. I wanted my job to be taking care of my kid (and yes, the house too). I don’t mind being at home all day playing tea party or with play-doh. I don’t mind doing all the grocery shopping. I don’t mind not having adult interaction all day (though I do have to occasionally call friends or family to stay a bit more sane). I DO mind doing dishes. Have I said that before??

I love being a stay at home mom.

I never in a million years thought I wanted to be a stay at home mom. I was raised in a very feminist household where the woman needed to work and contribute to society. My parents actually thought I would be the first woman president. (Sorry, mom, not likely). So it was hard for my family to come to grips with the fact that this was what I wanted to do. But, like always, they supported me.

I am so grateful to be able to be at home and play with my toddler. I am grateful I have the flexibility to run errands during the day and take care of things at home. I am grateful that if we want to go on vacation I don’t have to request “time off”. It is amazing.

But, while there comes guilt with being a full time working mom, there is also some guilt associated with being a stay at home mom. I have guilt that I’m not contributing financially to my family. I have guilt that we can’t go on fancy vacations to Hawaii every year. I have guilt that my hubby can’t buy the 60″ TV he wants to get. I know it is all stuff that is material, that we don’t need. But, they are things that working moms can have because they have 2 incomes.

There are pluses and minuses to each, but I am still grateful that I am a stay at home mom. And I wouldn’t trade it for all the designer clothes in the world.