The Worth of a Stay-at-Home Mom

"I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also." ~II Timothy 1:5

"The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world."

I'm SURE that by now you have heard of the ridiculous, incredibly rude, self-centered, uneducated, uninformed, prejudicial (but I sugar coat) remark made by Hilary Rosen, one of B.O.'s head strategists about Ann Romney AND ALL stay-at-home moms in America ~ "She's never worked a day in her life." It reminded me of something that happened to me a while back . . .

About 15 years ago, I lead a homeschool Girl Scout troop. Our local council was in the midst of brain-storming for a function about "career choices" for women; so that "our girls" could start thinking about what they wanted to do when they started considering their careers & college choices. Oh, they were SO excited about it . . . they were going to have all local career women with tables & booths & each one would talk about their fantastic jobs. Woohoo!

They had booked a local realtor, a teacher, a scientist, a business owner, an artist, a Mary Kay lady, a police woman, and some others that I can't remember . . . but . . . I happened to notice that there was NO STAY-AT-HOME MOM.

I brought this up to the leader of the project ~ "Excuse me, but are there any plans for a stay-at-home or homeschool mom?" ~ & she & the ladies standing in the group with her looked at me in stunned silence. When they finally got their collective whits together, they smiled that "oh, she must be humored" smile & stutteringly said, "Oh . . . well . . . if YOU would like to bring THAT aspect to the floor, YOU are welcome to." I think I shocked them even more when I said, "I would LOVE to!" You could nearly read their collective thoughts ~ "Oh, crud!" . . . or . . . um . . . something to that effect.

So, the day of the program, I set up my little table. I brought our Prairie Primer unit study that we were doing that year & all sorts of projects the girls had done, books they'd read, photos of field trips and activities; I even had some homemade soap I'd made. Everyone dutifully went around to every table & looked at all the goodies the ladies had brought and asked any questions they had. When they got to mine, many moms seemed "suddenly" a little sheepish & embarrassed, but I joyfully told them our story & answered their obligatory questions.

I think the most chilly the room became was when I got up to make my presentation. I told them that I had the high honor & privilege of NOT ONLY taking care of my family, but I was our daughters' teacher, as well! I went over the chores that I did on a daily & weekly basis ~ yes, I did laundry with homemade laundry detergent, I made soap, I tried to cook from scratch, I mopped & swept, I dusted ~ you could see many of the moms snickering & the little girls looking at me with a look of dread. BUT ~ the clincher was my closing ~ it went something like this . . .

"The very best part of my job is that I GET to stay home with my girls all day long! I GET to not only work with them, but to play with them any time I want. I GET to be home with them when they are sick & not HAVING to worry about losing my job by taking off work to be with them, I GET to take them on fun field trips. And most of all, I GET to hug & kiss them & tell them & show them how much I love them any time I want!"

My applause was a little tepid & I didn't have many moms gathering around my table while I was tearing down, like some of the other presenters did, but I think I made many of the attendees ~ young & not so young ~ think & take notice of the worth of a stay-at-home-homeschool mom.

Blessings from Ohio . . . Kim<><