I woke up at 6:00 AM as I usually do on a Tuesday morning. I made a cup of coffee, let the dogs out of their kennels, fed them and took them outside. Next I packed my husband's lunch: ham, roast beef, bacon and cheese sandwich, some sliced summer sausage and cheese, a couple baggies of chips, water, iced tea, and a couple energy drinks, an energy bar, and some chocolate.
At 6:30 I brought him a glass of milk, turned on his bedside lamp, and said "good morning." I returned to the kitchen to make my children's lunches. At 7:00 I made sure my husband was awake and up and moving. He left for work at 7:15. The kids were up and eating breakfast, ready for their day of school.
I sat down at my desk around 8:00 AM and read on the computer for an hour: my favorite blogs, Facebook, and the Bible, while drinking more coffee. At 9:00 I got changed and ready to go to the gym. By 12:00 I was back at home planning supper. I took the dogs outside again. I ate lunch. I took a shower, made a couple phone calls and packed a couple of boxes (we're moving into my dream house that my husband is buying in a few weeks). I sat at my desk again, read and answered a couple of emails, called the mechanic to schedule some work done on the truck, did my daily check of bank accounts, read the news headlines, and bought a new blouse online for an upcoming wedding we're attending. I texted the personal trainer and scheduled our meeting for Friday. Back in the kitchen, I started preparing supper and added needed items to the grocery list for my weekly shopping trip. My daughters joined me and we discussed all of the events of their day.
I greeted my husband when he arrived home from work, and served supper shortly after. As a family we sat in the living room and talked about each others' day. Went over school work, grades, what's upcoming in their sports, we talked about life and politics. RLB led a fantastic discussion about living in a secular world as a Christian and how best to do it. A baseball game was on the television in the background and intermittently we talked about the game. Our children concluded their nightly routines and went to bed. RLB and I talked for another hour before heading to bed ourselves.
This morning (Wednesday), my day started exactly as it did on Tuesday. Then I watched this video.
I hope I'm not the only SAHM who watched this video and thought, "Oh, please" while considering all that went on in my husband's day and everything he did to provide the lifestyle I have. Sure, my life was busier when the children were smaller. My life was busier when the dogs were puppies. My life is busier when it's gardening season. But none of that even comes close to what I have seen my husband do over the course of the last 18 years that allows for me to, yet again, be sitting at this desk writing a post. A post I hope my daughters read should they ever feel the need to embellish the difficulties of being a mother. It is a very important job, being a help meet, being a mother, and taking care of the needs of a household. But it is not, by any stretch of the imagination, the "World's Toughest Job."
That post sounds like a grateful women who appreciates her husband and family. Are you sure you are a American female? :-)
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the things my wife does. I don't want to do them. I'm not good at them. I don't like doing them. My wife does all of those things better than I. That's why there are a mom and dad. Both bring skills to the table that the family needs. It's almost like it was designed that way.
Designed that way? Hmmm, could be. :) I think there's a book out there that mentions it. :)
DeleteYou're not normal.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine that you often experience Proverbs 31:28 "Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her"
http://sarahsdaughterblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/back-to-basics-solipsism.html
ReplyDeleteOh the irony burns lol.
You don't work, have 3 hours a day to spend on working out activities and 2 hours to spend on the computer. Your children are all older and are not homeschooled.
For your consideration, many good and Godly women do not have a day like yours and also are grateful for their lives as well.
I didn't suggest women who don't have days like mine aren't grateful. But they do not have the world's toughest job. As I said, my life has been busier but to attempt to compare mothering of small children, homeschooling etc. to the jobs men do and think theirs is tougher...no, not buying it. I think of the man on the oil rig, the trucker, the man working on the power lines in a storm, the loggers, the miners - the list goes on and on.
ReplyDeleteAnd, for me, I look at what my husband does and has done for the last 19 years and there is no way mine has been the tougher job, and that is the take away here. For women to wake up and see what their husbands do before they start basking in the glory of the martyrdom of motherhood.
I agree that being a wife and mother isn't the world's toughest job. Especially if by toughest you mean most difficult, most strenuous, etc. I've been doing the mothering thing for a quarter of a century now. My oldest is 25 and my youngest is 5. Really, I don't compare mothering to other "jobs" I've had because it differs so much in quality that it is impossible to compare it in terms of difficulty. Also, it can't really be compared to what a husband/father does whether he works outside the home or runs a business, etc. They are just so very, very different.
ReplyDeleteWhat I do is important. What my husband does is important. We certainly aren't in competition as to whose role is toughest. But I do tire of hearing women go on and on as if they deserve martyrdom just for showing up every day.
Would you agree that there are some couples where the woman has a tougher job? I think in the aggregate that men work harder than women, but not all men have tough jobs. In a situation where both parents work, say as lawyers, but the mother also does the housework, the cleaning and the childcare (when the children are not in daycare or with the nanny), I can see where the woman would say her job is tougher. And strictly in terms of mothering, some mothers work much harder than others.
I guess I'm saying it isn't an across the board truth that men have tougher jobs than mothering while agreeing with you that it is ridiculous to label mothering as the world's toughest job.