I don't like hearing,
"So you don't have a job?"
"You're just a stay at home Mom."
"You must not have anything to do all day!" or
"It would drive me crazy to have nothing to do!"
WTF! I don't care most of the time, but other times, it gets me. It's just like having sand in your shoes. It takes a certain amount of it to really start to bother.
I admit I haven't heard many of those lately. I do get dirty looks from time to time when I go
out with all 5 of my children. I am not sure how to interpret those looks. On bad days, I take it that it might be jealousy...other times, I have to ignore, I might just be tempted to wipe the smirk of the face holding the expression. Apparently, physical assault is a big no-no here in the states. Lots of lawyers around you know.My children are well-behaved. They might horse-play a lot at home, just like puppies, but I've been really fortunate that they'd "heel" in public. I get compliments about how well-behaved they are. It just warms this heart of mine.
The biggest challenge of mothering for me is coming up with a variety of food to feed my kids daily. Between McDonalds, Chipotle, Wendys, Boston Market, and other places that make food for us, I have to come up with a healthy dish which they will eat. I know that's an impressive list of fast-foods. I don't use them all that much, only in emergencies. Except that it seems to be emergencies for the last week or so!
Meal planning for me is the hardest part of being a mother for me. I have to make a meatless dish, another one for my very allergic child besides meatballs that is, and then another dish for everyone else. It doesn't seem that hard reading that sentence now. However, standing in the kitchen and doing is a different thing. I have tried making a stew for everyone, but then there's always one person who'll go hungry because the dish didn't match their taste.
I can cook and bake just about anything. That said, some days, I don't want to lift a finger at all. It might be because the baby's cries are triggered with the switching on of the stove.
I am always amazed at mothers who seem to fix dinners effortlessly. Like Bree of Desperate Housewives for example. I'd love to be Bree in the kitchen. No, I don't want her life, just the part about whipping up meals everyday, all the time. I can't even take refuge in pasta. I heard pasta is the easiest dish to whip up. My kids haven't learned that they're supposed to love pasta.
Everything else about being SAHM I love. I like that I could just sit down anytime I want to and put my feet up and read a book... Oy. Wrong chapter.
I love being around my kids a lot. Sometimes, I am not as "around" as I'd like to be when time
demands my attention to business. If I work at home, does that still make a SAHM? Or does that make me like any other Mom in the workforce, except that my office is at home, and I never get peace any stretch of time.How does one define SAHM anyway? If I am putting in at least 30 hours doing business, does that make me a "worker" Mom even if I hadn't step outside my house in days? Or if I work in my pajamas, will I still be called SAHM?
What's in a label anyway? We shouldn't be labeled anything but a human, a mother, a wife. But if we don't use our "pronouns," how are we going to tell which from whom? This post is not about the label. It's all about me just being a tad overwhelmed because I had to work right through homework and dinner time today because of poor planning. I had to work with baby attached to my breast as work cannot wait. I have become excellent at multi-tasking. I am ambidextrous by necessity.
I admit that I have a different picture of SAHM before I was a mother. I've arrived. I am SAHM. I find myself wanting to say, yes, I choose to stay at home with my kids. But I have degree in Biochemistry. I managed a business. I am smart, intelligent, and sexy, too. It's just because saying I am SAHM makes somehow pegs me as dowdy.
5 comments:
wouldn't you qualify for WAHM?
work-at-home-mom?
haha my mom has issues with the cooking too (my sister is incredibly picky and if my mom makes something that SHE likes then its most probably something I don't like and then my brother is thrown in the mix and also my diabetic father who has to watch his diet or else he'd get sick)
usually she just does a meal and leftovers for whoever doesn't like it. hahaha she tries but... too many people to feed.
she's always asking us for ideas that we'll all like. hahah poor mom.
the rest she does easily... and she's studying right now! she's getting her uh, something or other on some branch of psychology (i know it i just can't translated)
I guess today, I am WAHM
:)
Shoshana, I would be that a good percentage of women working out of their homes would trade places in an instant. At least I know I would. Perhaps there are jobs that give women the freedom to be who they are, but I've found that in the corporate environment, the skills we need to be good mothers and raise great kids are simply not valued.
Working ain't all it's cracked up to be, in my opinion anyway.
third mom, I think it's always going to be "the grass is greener" kind of thing.
I do love that I am always with my kids.
On days when I want to go home so I can be "away" from my job, well, I am home already. I just try to go out instead...with the kids in tow!
It all comes back to my main question *it's rather hard to see with all that complaining*...is there another mother out there who finds it a challenge to come up with a variety of menu everyday which pleases everyone?
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