Soaps and Bonbons.

I had my first two days working outside the home in almost 8 years this week.  This is a hard transition for me for my heart is at home.  Doing the work of the home.  Caring for my children, teaching them, gardening, cooking, cleaning, barn work, yard work and even the finances.  I made it my lifes work to keep my home running and hopefully running well.  Perfect?  No, but well.

Funny thing is it took me years to learn to love the job of staying at home.  If you pursue any job you recieve training.  I mean I got a job at a truck stop and they require me to take 10 different courses and not to mention the training I have to recieve on the floor to learn the ropes.  And this is for a job that is well, kind of the bottom of the barrel kinda job.  But staying at home is something you are thrown into and expected to float kinda thing.  It is a career that requires self motivation, organizational skills, management skills, self dicsipline, manual labor, relational skills, financial planning and budgeting.  It is a highly demanding and requires a great amount of abilty.
You get almost no recognition for the work you do.  And there is almost no immediate gratification and definitely no monetary compensation..  You have to juggle about 5 things at all times and with a smile as to not show those little impressionable people that are at your feet that mommy is sad, stressed, frustrated or angry.

Yet it is thought of as lazy and ambitionless to take on the role of a stay at home wife/mother.  Thought that you must spend your hours at home watching soaps and eating bonbons.  Who eats bonbons anyways??  I will admit I spend time thoughout the day online and occasionally will turn on the t.v.  But I do not have the luxury of any other job where you can clock in and clock out.  My lunch break usually consists of grabbing a bite of food here and there while I am making lunch for ever-hungry kids.  There is no time clock or required break times.  You are on duty 7 days a week all day and on call even at night.

There is also no water cooler conversations and rarely interaction with other adults.  And sometimes the loneliness can still get overwhelming.  Though I have learned to cope with it better.  It is lonely, stressful and neverending work load that gets little to no respect or thanks.  But the most important job that exsists.  We are shaping the hearts and minds of the next generation.  One's who will be the next president, CEO's and fill all those "important" jobs that will need filling someday.

I wish that the mentality toward the stay at home parent will change and it will get the much deserved respect it deserves someday but there are advocates for every group or sect out there but the reason you see no advocates out there for this minority group is because we are too busy catching up on soaps and eating our bonbons!!