The Unseen Work Of A Stay At Home Mom

Mar 11, 2019 by apost team

"Did you even do anything today?"

It's a question that many stay-at-home moms hear. And they hear it way too often. As a leave-the-home dad, I know I'm certainly guilty of asking my wife that very question. But not too long ago, I got a dose of reality.

It's too easy to come home from work and see a huge mess. Looking at my wife and our 3 (now) worn out and well-behaved kids, I have to wonder what she's done all day.

But I recently learned that she spent the day chasing after our kids, picking up in between cooking and playing.

And even then, she'd have to do the same cleaning over and over. An almost true slave to our children. The mess was a result of her getting all of the other chores done while still feeding and playing with our kids.

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I realized that it was easy for me to judge the house when I'd gotten home from work. I had two breaks and a lunch that I had all to myself at work. I work at a pretty cushy job and have very little worries while there. I could easily come home and pick up the mess in 10 or 15 minutes. So why couldn't she?

I found out that she did, several times. And that the reason it was still there is that by the time I'm on my way home, she's cooking us all dinner. It's hard for her to get 10 or 15 minutes to clean up after the kids, let alone to herself.

When we work outside of the home, we get variety. There are lots of people. We can go to many places for lunch. We know that there is a guaranteed time when we can quit doing what we're doing and go home.

Stay-at-home moms don't have that. Every day, all day, they are wife and mom. This is their life.

I realized that my wife probably deserves a good date a week, a good massage, and plenty of gratitude and hugs for all the emotional (and physical) work she does.

As humans, we tend to judge everyone and everything on what we see. But the work of a stay-at-home mom is often invisible.

How do we measure the love our children feel? How do we measure the 2 or 3 times they've already cleaned that day when it gets messy again? How do we measure all the care they take from themselves to give to everyone else in the family?

It's time we stop judging them on superficial things and start embracing them for what they do every single day.

If your wife is a stay-at-home mom, get her opinion on this! How do you show her appreciation for everything she does? Don't forget to pass this along to all your friends and family members who stay at home with the kids!