They say a mother's wage should be $136 000...
Mothers are, undoubtably, the most overworked and "underpaid" people out there. I am one now, and I understand this. However, it's also not really a job. Don't get me wrong, it's a lot of work, but it's a job. As soon as you start looking at it as a job is when the bitterness kicks in.
Mothers hold many roles, this is true, but I also held many of those roles as a single and married person as well. Before our baby was born, my husband and I were bakers, maids, chefs, dry cleaners (laundry), therapist & teacher (to one another), and professional retail and service industry workers, respectfully. Now that we're parents, My husband still does all of the above (as well as shared child-care), and so do I. I have simply exchanged retail work for primary care-giver for my baby. My child is not a job; she's a change in our lifestyle. (Those who have husbands who see the child as only a change in the mother's lifestyle are, of course, another story altogether).
When I got married, I did not add "loving my husband" to my list of jobs. When we adopted our turtles as pets, we did not add "turtle care" to our role of employment for which we are unjustly unpaid. These are changes in my life that included added responsibility, but it's ludicrous to think of them measured in hours or earnable wage.
I could sit down and calculate how much time I spend with my baby and how it's unequal that I prepare her meals while my husband works at a restaurant and serves his to strangers, or I can simply enjoy the fact that I have been blessed with this wonderful opportunity to care for my own baby. I am more fortunate than many people in the world who either cannot bear children or must leave their child to work in a building, not to mention the unfathomable difficulty of raising a child as a single parent. As my baby squeels and kicks next to me, I know that I cannot possibly feel cheated for having to spend most of my time watching this little person grow and learn and delight in my presence.
Yes, I still work, and this person is quite demanding, but it's also my most rewarding work yet..and the only one the includes that mid-day nap I've been requesting for a decade.
Mothers hold many roles, this is true, but I also held many of those roles as a single and married person as well. Before our baby was born, my husband and I were bakers, maids, chefs, dry cleaners (laundry), therapist & teacher (to one another), and professional retail and service industry workers, respectfully. Now that we're parents, My husband still does all of the above (as well as shared child-care), and so do I. I have simply exchanged retail work for primary care-giver for my baby. My child is not a job; she's a change in our lifestyle. (Those who have husbands who see the child as only a change in the mother's lifestyle are, of course, another story altogether).
When I got married, I did not add "loving my husband" to my list of jobs. When we adopted our turtles as pets, we did not add "turtle care" to our role of employment for which we are unjustly unpaid. These are changes in my life that included added responsibility, but it's ludicrous to think of them measured in hours or earnable wage.
I could sit down and calculate how much time I spend with my baby and how it's unequal that I prepare her meals while my husband works at a restaurant and serves his to strangers, or I can simply enjoy the fact that I have been blessed with this wonderful opportunity to care for my own baby. I am more fortunate than many people in the world who either cannot bear children or must leave their child to work in a building, not to mention the unfathomable difficulty of raising a child as a single parent. As my baby squeels and kicks next to me, I know that I cannot possibly feel cheated for having to spend most of my time watching this little person grow and learn and delight in my presence.
Yes, I still work, and this person is quite demanding, but it's also my most rewarding work yet..and the only one the includes that mid-day nap I've been requesting for a decade.