My 24 Hour Work Day (and maybe a little venting)

I used to work in an office.  I had a nice big desk and nobody was allowed to touch my stuff.  Work started at 8:30.  I worked through lunch and had to stay late to finish end of month accounting.  Now that I'm just a "stay at home mom", I don't have to be at work at 8:30.  I can sleep in, get up and have some coffee and a bagel while I relax and watch the news.  I can get my work out in or go for a long run.  Then I can take a nice long shower, put on my make up and blow out my hair.  I can pick up around the house while the children read stories to each other in their room.  After lunch, I can put the kids in the car and spend the afternoon at the park catching up with all my friends while the kids play and have fun.  Then we can come home and they'll play quietly while I make dinner.  After a dinner where we discuss the events of the day everyone can clean up their place and the children can go bath themselves.  Then I can read them a story and kiss them good night and they're off to dream land while I sip on some relaxation tea and sit on the couch.  That is the life of a stay at home mom.  You have time to do all the things that you need to do and you really are your own boss.

HAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I get the feeling that that is what people might think.  I'm not knocking the working mom, and maybe "the grass is always greener", but give me some credit for what I do because I work damn hard.  By 8:30 AM, when people are hanging up their coats and chatting with their coworkers while they get coffee,  I have my work day well under way.  I have run 4-6 miles, showered, made coffee and unloaded the dishwasher, gotten the kids their milk and breakfast, cleaned up said breakfast.  I've slathered on the sunscreen and dressed the kids.  I've brushed teeth and fixed hair.  I've packed lunches and may get to sit and suck down another cup of coffee while directing the kids cleaning up the toys so we can go do whatever we have planned that day...and there always has to be something planned, whether it's a play date or just going to the park.  They need exercise and fresh air.

By 1:00 PM, when people are getting back to their desks after lunch with their coworkers, friends, or even maybe their spouse or having a quiet lunch at their desk, I'm starting to think about when I'll have time to sit and suck down another cup of coffee.  I have already taken the kids to do whatever it takes to tire them out and dragged them home.  Sometimes it's the zoo, the pool, the park, a play date at a friend's house, and on Thursdays it's the grocery store, produce stand and the library.   I've fed them lunch and cleaned up said lunch, whether it was a picnic or at home.  I've read them a story and tucked them in for a nap. 

Most people are turning off their computers at 5:30 and heading home.  By 5:30, I've done whatever chore is scheduled for that day (dusting, vacuuming, laundry, lots and lots of laundry, bathrooms, sorting 2t, 3t, and 4t clothes, etc).  I've made and eaten my own lunch, which I usually don't get to do when the kids eat, and cleaned it up.  The kids have gotten up and are ready play, sometimes with each other, sometimes with "mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy."  Tony's lunch for work is made and dinner has been cooked and is being put on the table.

Besides the regularly scheduled programming, I also have to find time to do things like teach the kids about healthy choices, colors, shapes, numbers, letters, manners, their address, how to eat with utensils, use cups without lids, spell their names, how to clean up their own stuff, how to pee in the potty, how to hold a pen and write, etc, etc, etc.  I do that, not a daycare or babysitter that gets paid to do it.  I do it.  Doctor and dentist appointments have to be scheduled.  There's always paperwork to fill out and calls to be made.  Oh and I'm a wife.

I know that I don't have to get up and run, unless I want to feel miserable.  I know that my kids don't have to have activities to do everyday, unless they want to be bored.  I don't have to do a lot of the things that I do every day, but I do it to have a happy, healthy family.  I made a choice to have a family, and in doing that I took on the responsibility of molding their lives.  I do not slight anyone that uses a childcare provider.  It may be a choice, it may be a necessity.  But I, as a "stay at home mom" (and I use quotation marks because my "job" goes with me even when I'm not at home) do work.   I may not sit down at a desk, but I do work, and I work very hard.