Quote:
Originally posted by xok85xo
well, no..i never assumed that thats what they did..i just wondered what it was that they did all day. like, my friend's mom doesn't work but she seems to be gone most of the day running various errands.. and they have a cleaning lady, hired people to fix whatever needed to be repaired, etc..i just always wondered what it was she was running around doing all day
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You have a valid question, xok85xo. When I was doing the career thing, I also wondered what the heck stay at home mothers did with their day! Of course, I worked in Manhattan at the time where stay at home moms were fairly rare and the women who DID stay home were in such a stratospherically high income bracket that they didn't frequent the places mere mortals such as myself did.
For the most part, our household is divided into two parts: my realm and Mr. KR's realm. Mr. KR earns the money for the family and I take care of everything else.
I make sure the family has clean clothing to wear, a full pantry, meals prepared, house clean.
I make sure the girls have their homework done and help them if they don't understand something. I help them with school projects. I am also the liaison between our family and the teachers because I like to be involved so I know what's going on in the classroom. I make sure they practice their instruments and get them to and from their piano/violin lessons once a week, basketball (or whatever sport is in season) practice twice a week and dance class once a week. I also volunteer at their school for about 3-4 hours a week. At night, I make sure they are showered, teeth are brushed, prayers are said and then I crawl into bed with them and we read together for a half hour (my favorite part of the day!)
I grocery shop, return library books and DVDs, go to the post office, drop off and pick up from the dry cleaners, make vet and groomer appointments and transport the pooches, take the cars in to be serviced, if they need to be emissions tested or registered I do that too. If anyone I know (i.e. relative on either side, friends, one of hubby's secretaries, kids' friends, etc.) has a birthday coming up, I buy presents and/or cards or arrange for flower delivery. At Christmas, I do most of the shopping. And the decorating. And planning the open house we have every year.
I do have a cleaning lady, but she only comes twice a week to do the heavy cleaning. I do the day-to-day stuff and the laundry. Lots of laundry! lol
I do go out for coffee and shopping with my girlfriends, but that's a couple of hours a week. Less time than I spent at lunch when I was working outside the home. Adult companionship is important to me! :)
Basically, what I do is make sure that the household is running smoothly and everyone and everything is taken care of. My husband is the breadwinner, but we are equal partners because I know that I wouldn't be able to take care of everything on the homefront if he didn't provide so amply for us. He knows that he can spend long hours concentrating on nothing but his job and still come home to a comfortable house. He doesn't have to worry about his children because he knows that I'm taking good care of them.
Wow! That was a diatribe, wasn't it? lol But, in a nutshell, that's what I do. And I really enjoy it. It wasn't always the right thing for me to do, and maybe sometime in the future I will go back to work fulltime. But for now, it's the right thing for me and for my family and I'm happy doing what I do :)
PS LOL! Sandy, I think my grandma was the Polish counterpart to Grandma OTW! Great ladies, both, I'm sure
