Finding Satisfaction in Being a Housewife

For centuries the womans's role has been in the home looking to the environment and nurturing the children among various other responsibilities. With the dawn of the women's rights movement women have been blessed to move into the workforce and go outside of the home to care for their families financially if need be. Women today are blessed to have the opportunity to get a higher education and high paying professional jobs.

Women who choose to stay home to care for their home and family sometimes feel that they miss out on the glamour of the working world. Instead of a raise in salary for a job well done, they get smiley toothless grins, hugs, and have to clean baby bottoms. Not helping matters for support and encouragement for women at home is seeing the stereotypical housewife portrayed in the media in two extremes, one as a desperate woman unhappy with her role and always on the prowl for adventure or second portrayed to the other extreme as a depressed-looking woman in sweats eating bon-bons and watching soap operas all day.

To the women coming home from the workplace, for whatever reason and who are having a hard time adjusting to the sometimes mundane responsibilities daily home life brings, I promise it does become joyful. To the women who have been housewives for some time and are looking for new ways to change things up and add a little spark to their lives, there are ways to do this and I hope to touch on some here.

A positive attitude is the place to start. Record in your journal or notebook five to ten positive reasons you chose to be a housewife. Follow that by five to ten talents you have and ten talents you wish to develop. Finally, record five to ten reasons you are blessed to be a housewife. Remember that every situation is made better with a positive attitude. "Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same." (Francesca Reigler) Remember there is no perfect, ideal job or situation. It is what we make of it. If you are unhappy with the idea of staying home start today by concentrating on reasons you like being at home. You'll be surprised how many reasons you can come up with! More importantly you'll find your attitude adjusting to the positive aspects your role is and its ideal place in the home.

Find a mentor, someone who can teach you new homemaking skills. Find a woman who loves her role in the home and who has turned her passion into an art. Most of my first ten years as a homemaker were spent learning from mentors. I learned how to make French bread with herbed butter, how to cook hundreds of meals, how to clean things the proper way and new ways to organized my cabinets. I learned creative date nights to surprise my husband with. I learned tips on teaching my children to stay on the gospel path. When monsters lurked in closets, my mentors shared how to chase them away so the child could sleep better. My mentors taught me natural home remedies or ways to treat fevers and colds. More importantly, they taught me how to prevent them. Without other women with a large variety of experiences and stories just when I needed them, my homemaking journey would have been more difficult and definitely more boring!

Get online for inspiration and new ideas. There are hundreds of websites that teach women important skills from saving money on your grocery bill to how to knit. With the internet as a tool for the modern day housewife you can learn from mentors online as well as local women. Many blogs contain bright, color pictures of delicious meals they cook to craft projects they create. The Homemaking Cottage contains over three thousand articles, recipes, crafts all with the purpose of improving and enhancing the home and family.

Here is list of nine things to change up and add a little fun to your routine:

1. Learn new organization skills and re-organize items in your home in a new way.

2. Call a girlfriend for a tea party with the kids. The kids will enjoy time out and you will enjoy the adult conversation, say nothing about how much fun it is to put together a tea party!

3. Plan a date night with your husband once a week. It gives you and your spouse something to look forward to.

4. Have a competition. Call a friend and see who can get the most done in the next half an hour.

5. Organize 10 new activities for your kids during the next 10 days. The Homemaking Cottage has the perfect ebook for this called 100 Days of Summer which contains 101 unique and super fun activities to entertain the children with.

6. Start a hobby. After your scheduled chores do your hobby!

7. Plan an adult get together at your home. Plan all the details. Give yourself at least two weeks to spend time on it every day. It will give you something to plan and look forward to.

8. Get involved! Volunteer for the community, in your child's school, or church functions.

9. Begin an exercise program. Staying home gives you more time to exercise so take an opportunity to go on walks with a friend and push the kids in the stroller, take a Zumba or spin class.

If the desperation for a change comes remember that while the grass may look greener on the other side, it is twice as big and there's more to mow as in many life situations.

Is there satisfaction in staying home? My answer is an emphatic "Yes!" While I too experience burnout or boredom from time to time, overall I know that my staying home to nurture the children and care for the home blesses me daily. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing my child cuddle in the blanket I made for her with my hands, or my family satisfied and bellies full after a nourishing meal that I cooked and served for their benefit. It feels emotionally good to accomplish things and nothing compares to caring for the home and family as a housewife.