The glamorous life of a stay at home parent!

When I shared my post on how we were dealing with unemployment, I joked about how I envied stay at home moms. Jokes aside…I genuinely did. In my mind this is how their day went:

• I imagined that all the stay at home moms were all meeting at the coffee shop after school drop off.
• Then they’d probably head to the gym, looking all cute in their hot pink sneakers and designer tights.
• After a hectic workout, time for the spa and a relaxing massage.
• Head home to a clean house…because I mean, the nanny does the cleaning.
• Maybe go for a swim before the kids come home or read a book.
• Get started on some organic lunch for the kids.
• Pick them up, full of smiles…so well rested.
• Get home and it’s bliss. Smiles around the table as they tell you how their day was.

Look, some days they perhaps jogged first, then went for coffee. Or better yet, skipped gymming and went straight to the spa. It’s all the same right?

One of the stay at home moms had a good laugh when I explained to her the image I had of her day in my head. She then proceeded to nudge another mom and together they laughed at me again. Apparently they thought this was funny. Um why? I mean…don’t laugh at me because I am not living your fabulous life. *sigh*

Apparently ‘fabulous’ is the last thing most stay at home moms would use to describe their days. They actually then set me straight that it was rushing kids to school, going home and CLEANING THEIR OWN HOMES. Doing washing, mopping floors. *shivers* They barely get time to drink cold instant coffee, when it’s time to fetch nagging, dirty kids. Rush from one extramural activity to the next. Get home and sort out homework, while making supper, bathing the kids, cleaning (again) and then getting to bed. Rinse and repeat. Every day.

My husband currently holds the title of ‘stay at home dad‘, though not by choice. I listen to his day and I think to myself…I would go mad. He is up at 6:15am to make my coffee (literally our only time together), I then dash off to work by 6:45am and he is then tasked with getting the 3 kids to school. I do make their lunch before I leave though. He gets home by 8:30am and I guess he’s the magician that ensures our room gets cleaned as well as any other projects I task him with for the day.

By 11:30 he heads out the door to fetch the first kid, 1pm the second. Off to sports. 2pm the 3rd kid. More sports. Home by 4pm…..sometimes later. Homework. I swear you’ll think the queen herself has pulled up the way he is so excited to see me in the afternoon. An adult. Conversation. He still then tries to make sure I am relaxed with minimal responsibilities in the evening. Remember I do those labour intensive lunch boxes. 😉

As much as my husband does need to find a job soon, I realised he is playing such a pivotal and priceless roll in the kids lives at the moment. I don’t know how we would have coped if he had been working. The 3 different pickup times, the homework (a post for another day!) coordinating their extracurricular activities? These kids need to save up to pay their dad a salary for basically being their assistant. It’s hard work and a thankless job at that. Today’s post is really just an appreciation post for all those stay at home parents out there, doing this and more every single day.

The working parent gets to escape in a way. I sit in my air-conditioned office and most some days I feel like it’s more relaxing being here than at home. The stay at home parent has no escape. So if you’re the working parent, make a point of letting them know how much they are valued and also to take them away from the 4 walls of home once in a while. Whether it’s just to a coffee shop or a trip to Spar (not the one where they give massages and pedicures), the one where you buy milk! Fancy stuff right?? Something though, anything to help them maintain their sanity!

Are you a stay at home parent or wishing you were one? 

PS Don’t forget to enter my family games giveaway in THIS post.