A woman’s worth

I’ve been both the working mom and the stay at home mom and let me tell ya.....both have pros and cons. Let me make one thing clear...there is absolutely no “easier” job. Working is difficult. You have all of your responsibilities that come knocking on your door when you feel like you’ve only been with your new baby for a minute. Thrown back into the work force when you’re not ready while someone else is with your child. Whether it be daycare, the nanny, other family, it doesn’t matter. It’s everyone EXCEPT you. And that’s all you think about. Every single second of the day (or at least that’s all I thought about). All while making your deadlines and deliverables and still trying to do a good job at work and THEN be a mom before and after work. It’s EXHAUSTING. But you do what you must so you can provide for your child. You are still you, but a more kick ass version because you’re balancing work AND a family at the same time. This is a very tough job, and you’re an absolute rockstar 🤩 if you do both.

Now, staying home is a whole new world. Yes, it’s great that I don’t have to wake up, get dressed, put myself together day after day to work for someone else for 50+ hours a week, waiting for my vacation and begging for a day off. According to the majority, I’m “off” every day. No, I don’t have to change out of my pj’s if I don’t want to. In this phase, I’m not actually “bringing home” any money into the household. Also no commute. Sounds great, right? Now here’s the truth. For a second, realize that your life, your daily routine, every single move you make, even down to going to the bathroom - belongs to someone else. There is no privacy, no break, no freedom and no time. None for you, at least, anymore. You will now be employed by the little monsters you’ve created and will be waiting on them hand and foot because they need you, and you’re the only adult around that can do anything and everything they need. Cooking, cleaning, feeding, driving, raising, everything. There is no preparation for this. You just DO it. Every day. Your independence is gone, ”career you” ceases to exist and you’ve been given a whole new set of responsibilities. At some times you may even forget who you used to be. There are many times that I tell myself what I wouldn’t give to be sitting in one of those boring food-less 2 hour draining meetings that you know could have been replaced by an email, but I never knew how much I would miss that one day. Realize now that you’re wearing so many different hats that you’re irreplaceable in EVERY. SINGLE. CATEGORY. Holding down the fort every single day and wrangling your little ones takes levels of patience you never knew existed. You rock! 🤩

Both ways are meaningful, valuable, important, and deserve to be appreciated. I wouldn’t trade either for the world. After all, look at the beautiful little miracles you’ve created ♛