Choosing to be a Stay at Home Mom

Even if Mary Poppins umbrella-ed her way into the foyer, offering to mind our kids while we went back to work, I am sure a lot of mothers would turn her away. Our jobs as overworked housewives are tough but many of us wouldn’t have it any other way.

With kids always within a three foot radius of the mothers belly button it’s easy to see how mothers can succumb to the perils of total housewife insanity – but not quite.  We wear slip-on shoes. They are quicker to put on when someone falls off the bike outside. Our  nails are bitten because filing would take too long. We might wear cotton t-shirts that make a great caboose connector from behind when children need to play chu-chu around the kitchen table. The work suits that gather dust in the closet, have a distinctive 80s feel to them. Mom’s might not have a favorite shade of lipstick but mothers kiss can heal boo boos instantly. Worn out sneakers are a distinct possibility – well past the 100 mile limit advertised by makers.

We can remember phone numbers of doctors, dentists and the local kid’s hairdressers without thinking. We moms may not know the GDP or the population of the country we live in. We may have a degree floating around in my brain somewhere. It's just buried underneath the 'Infant/Child CPR' class that we take yearly. The laptop and printer are covered in crayoned stick figures. The cell phone smells of peanut butter from sticky fingers playing Angry Birds.

Do we do spontaneous extravagant excursions or vacations? Or do we just manage to keep up with family visits? We may not remember when the president of the country is to be sworn in but moms have the uncanny ability to remember with scary detail the local school calendar and the daily school specials.  

This information is categorized in the brain in the "currently important" section.  Everything else is stored in the "not relevant" section – not to be deleted but archived for future reference. So when an offer of a job comes our way we face the dilemma of leaving children home with others and having enough money to get out of the single income rut we are in or being home with the kids.

Friends may wonder how stay at home moms manage to remain happy. Let’s thank each day that we have left to see the kids first thing in the morning and plant that sleepy kiss on their warm sticky bed heads. And then let them lie in.

So Mary Poppins, nice meeting you and all, but some moms are home to stay for a while more. But could you leave the umbrella? It makes a great roof for our tunnel we are making here under the kitchen table.