People ask all the time, what does a stay-at-home mom do? Or, heaven forbid, I get the occasional, “Oh, that must be nice. To stay at home and do nothing all day.” Stay at home moms take on many roles and wear many hats.
Provide Childcare
We are the main caregivers for our children. Everything that involves childcare, we take care of it. That includes taking the kids to practices, games, and meet ups. We cook, bandage booboos, and teach the younger ones.
Manage Finances
A big part of running the household includes finances. Creating a budget, completing the shopping, and paying bills are all a part of managing finances. Creating a budget is essential to knowing where you stand and if one income is enough to cover all your expenses plus some.
To complete the shopping, we need to keep prices in mind. This can be a large task, but it’s made easier nowadays with online grocery pickup. Online grocery pickup can help you stay within budget as you can see your total cost and add and delete items.
Paying the bills keeps the lights on and the water running. Sometimes, with two partners working, bills can be forgotten about. However, having a spouse at home dedicating time to the finances can assure that bills are being paid.
Keep House
With kids running around the house constantly, there’s always a mess. Keeping house is a big task. As soon as you clean up one mess, there’s another mess in the making. You do laundry, wash dishes, sweep the floors, scrub the toilet, clean the fridge, take out the trash, the list goes on. These tasks are always on the agenda and never seem to end.
Be a Playmate
Some kids can play independently and that’s great. Others, not so much. My first born can play by herself as it was just her for two and a half years. My second born, on the other hand, does not like to play by herself as she has always had her older sister around. I didn’t realize this until my oldest started school. Now, I’m holding a Little People school house while drinking my coffee so that my second born can play with it.
Being a stay-at-home mom, regardless of the child, means being a playmate when they decide they’re done playing alone. Holding toys, being in the same room, and giving undivided attention is often what is required.
Become a Chef
There are three meals a day and a zillion snacks to be given out. We cook for children who don’t even know what they want or what they like. Sure, they liked chicken fingers yesterday, but now they only like them if they’re shaped like dinosaurs. Waffles were wanted in the moment, but as soon as they were placed in front of your kid, they’re an abomination. How dare we think they wanted waffles when they said they wanted waffles.
Kids can also inhale an unlimited number of snacks and they ask incessantly. Just as you sit down, usually. Keeping a fresh variety of snacks in the pantry is essential. As soon as a snack seems repetitive, kids stop eating them. Trying to keep food and snack available that your kids will actually eat can be quite difficult.
Nurse Booboos
Younger kids, especially, hit themselves on everything. Their heads make contact with wall corners, tables, floors… literally anything. Your kid splattered applesauce on the floor from breakfast and then slipped on it, threw a rock outside and didn’t let go of the rock, tried looking at their feet and fell onto their head. Point is, there are lots of booboos throughout the day that may need band aids (if you ask a kid, they always need a band aid) and you’re the one that’s going to be giving them hugs and bandaging them up.
Teach
Teaching is one of the most important things you do. Throughout the day, you’re giving responsibilities, teaching tasks, and providing explanations to all their “whats” and “whys” (and there are lots).
There are so many hats a Stay at Home mom wears. While yes, we stay at home, that is only the location we do our jobs. For a Stay at Home mom, the work never ends and at the end of the day, the house is almost never clean. But the kids’ bellies are full and their hearts are happy. That’s what matters most.
