Whether you chose not to work full-time while you were raising your children, or whether you were forced out of the full-time workforce by the crisis in affordable childcare in Vermont that we hear so much about, parenting is hard work.
To honor all the parents whose primary occupation is raising kids, I have one request: can we please retire the phrases “stay-at-home mom” and “stay-at-home dad” and replace them with “full-time parent”?
The “stay-at-home” part just isn’t accurate. I know from my own experience that when you’re a full-time parent, you do not stay home. First thing in the morning, you’ve got a sprint to get the kids up and fed and dressed, get their hair and teeth brushed, make them lunches and get their school stuff together, and take them to school.
Now the clock is ticking, because depending on the kids’ ages, you’ve got five or six hours until you need to pick them up from school, and in that time you’ve got to go walk and feed the dog (twice), go grocery shopping, do errands, mow the lawn, take the car in for inspection or oil change or tire change, and do whatever else you’ve got on your list for the day.
As with people working any other full-time job, full-time parents often also have a part-time job as well, so you’ve also got to go put in a few hours at your part-time job or the school or wherever else you volunteer.
And boom! It’s time to pick the kids up from school (and they probably finish school at different times, which at least gives you time to get from one school to the other), and then they’re off to whatever their after-school activities are, or off to play-dates, which again require drop-offs and pick-ups.
You might also be trying to get in a workout today squeezed in between everything else.
And you can’t slow down now, because your next move is to zip home and make dinner – good thing you got the grocery shopping done in the morning.
OK, now get the kids from after-school, and get them excited to all take the dog for a walk, feed everyone dinner, and settle in to make sure everyone’s on track with homework for tomorrow.
Finally got the kids in bed? Excellent - they’re out of clothes, so you’d better start a load of laundry.
By my count, you’ve come and gone from the house six or seven times today. A very full-time parent, and no stay-at-home about it.
