Working Mum

The perfect mom... which i'm not!

I’m not sure how many women can agree with me, but I miss my daytime job. Let me qualify. I LOVE being a stay-at-home mom. I love being able to see my kids, I love hanging out with them all day and playing. I love being the first person they see when they wake.

But, I used to have a day time job. And I was really good at it. At my last job, I was a project manager for an events and advertising company (that was the last of the 6 jobs I’ve held. And its 6 DIFFERENT jobs). I could wear power clothes when i wanted to. Makeup everyday. A table with only my stuff. Everything neat in its place. Solace in the morning before my colleagues came to work. Reading hour at lunchtime. I made important decisions about marketing and projects. I spoke over the phone with conviction, power and ability. I was respected (?), my colleagues loved me.

And most of all……I had a salary. Nothing much, but something I could call my own. I earned it.

I think even men can relate to this fact that without a job (or pay), you’d feel real demoralized. You do get validated by your salary, no matter what you say.

So, now, i dont have a job outside. This doesnt mean i dont work. God forbid ANYONE say a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom) doesnt work! In FACT i think she works more. Because she doesnt have a “work hour”. her day begins when her kids do, or long before. And ends way after they go to bed. Sometimes, when with young ones, she works through the night too, so the husband, who has a job, will not be disturbed through the night.

She often does the cleaning, cooking, laundry, and minding of the kids, often 3x a day. Picture this scenario (story of my life):

Wake up, prepare breakfast for the kids & hubby if he’s lucky, they get breakfast. Then you clean up and sort them out with brushing teeth, change of clothes, baths etc. Cleanup then resumes after this, the bedroom, kitchen from bfast. Then as if seamlessly, she begins to prepare lunch. All through this time, she flits  from kitchen, to son on computer with a million questions, to playpen where baby is, back to kitchen. If she finds herself an idle moment, she’d get the laundry thats hanging out to fold, or if in machine, out to sun. She then proceeds to cook lunch. then the cycle begins all over again. Cook. Eat. Clean. Kids.

hmm.. shall i go on about when dinner gets started??? you get the idea. My day ends when the kids go to bed. then i have to tidy up what i can so tomorrow, the house no longer looks like a hurricane passed through.

Do i mop? maybe once a week. Vacuum? every other other day if im lucky. Laundry? every day. Cook? lets not go there. In no way am i a perfectionist where everything needs to be super neat and tidy. Ask my poor husband who has to tolerate my lack of neatness. I beg forgiveness almost weekly. my fans are so dirty and dont get started on the toilets. I’ll get to it.

So why do i go about with my ratty tee shirt? Erm.. coz im constantly wet from the sink or baby’s snot? Why do i not wear makeup? coz i constantly wash my face (to erase sleepyness but for a moment).

In My Opinion, if i’m validated with a good pay for doing this backbreaking work day in day out, maybe i’ll consider wearing that nice baju. or putting on same makeup. what i’d do with the money? hire a maid!!! (DISCLAIMER: My hubby is great. He lets me get stuff I want, says all his money is mine etc. Is great, but some cash on the side for somethin-somethin is better! ahah. The point of this story is not to gripe about my husband, but YOU as a husband, go love your wife a little. *grin* Mine did!)

ah well. as all rants go, it’s all fluff. Morale of the story, if you have a wife who takes care of the home and kids, GIVE HER A SALARY! It will definitely make her day