Mom's Worth: Missed The Point

In a previous article about "NEW STUDY SAYS MOMS JOB WORTH 140K", there were numerous misunderstandings to the study/survey. The article I referenced in my article was using the number of $138,095 as a base example of what Moms do, and what they would be paid for doing work as housekeeper, cook, day care center teacher, laundry machine operator, van driver, facilities manager, janitor, computer operator, chief executive officer and psychologist.

There have been many questions about what it is exactly that stay at home moms and mothers that work out of the home do for the number of $138,095 a year to be even a comparison of what the market would pay.

Here are some examples for those of you out there that completely disagree and misunderstood what the study/survey was about. To show what a mother deals with in the above along with the added jobs of full time nurse, part time doctor, banker, etc.

Let us first cover the listing of HOUSEKEEPER. Do we really need to get involved with how much cleaning goes into a household? Well, it seems that we do. When you think about an average size home of 1200 to 1500 square feet. There are floors to be cleaned in some form or fashion at least 3 times a week maybe more. There are beds to be made everyday. Bathrooms that need to be cleaned and disinfected 3 or 4 times a week, that could also be more depending on the number of bathrooms and the size of your family. There are dishes that need to be done with each meal, snack, or after each time you cook. Not to mention the piles of laundry that can accumulate in a family. Yes, there is also dusting, mopping, wall washing, picking up toys, picking up clothes, picking up anything and everything that finds it's way onto the floor or somewhere it is not suppose to be.

Cooking is next on our list. On an average day there are more then likely at least 2 full meals cooked in house. That means that there is prep time, cooking time, and yes more cleaning! If you think about a family of 4 sitting down to eat breakfast, and I mean a cooked breakfast not a bowl of cereal or a bowl of oatmeal. Then you are going to have pans, pots, plates, utensils, and even more to wash and clean. I do not feel there is much more to say on cooking. Cooking should pretty much speak for itself.

Day care center teacher is third on our list. Many families would prefer that their children have first milestones in the presence of Mom and Dad. Yes, it is understandable that, that is not always possible. That is what makes it all the more important and special when you teach your child something, and you know that you taught them. Not just that, but we all, no matter if we are a stay at homer or a mother that works outside of the home enjoy working with our children and helping them learn about the world around them. Nothing can beat hearing your child count to 3 the first time, or being able to tell you the color of their shirt. You may not consider Mothers as a teacher, but that is exactly what Mothers are!

Laundry machine operator. Think back to when you were a kid. Who was the person that did all the laundry in your house at least 98% of the time? For the most part I am guessing that was your Mother or the woman figure in the home. If not, how often did you walk around wearing something you picked up off of the floor?

Van driver as a job for a Mother? Could this be that most moms are chauffeurs. Chauffeurs for their own kids, their neighbors kids, car pools of any kind. Better to call Susan down the street then to call a cab I would say. For one Susan probably will not charge you a fortune to pick up Little Andy at ball practice. So, I would say that van driver fits quiet well in the equation.

Facilities Manager in a Mother? Could this possibly be because 90% of the time in a family setting the Mother of the house is the organizer of the home, scheduler of tasks and events, and gives direction in the morning routine, helps with homework, checks homework. Also making sure that the home is run smoothly and easily for those in the home with her.

A janitors job description comes fairly close to falling into the same category of housekeeper, and I do not feel we need to cover that any further.

There have been many questions about what does a Mother do at home that requires her to be a computer operator or that would even get close to having that included in the study. From my experience and I am sure many others a computer is a wonderful tool to use to do budgets, pay bills, and keep track of packages to and from your home. It is also a handy skill when you have children with e-mail accounts and instant messages. Then in this case you can throw in an investigator on occasion as well.

A mother in the role of CEO in her families home? I can not believe that the question has been asked of what is it that a Mother does that could even compare to a CEO of a major corporation. All of the above examples are more then enough to cover this part of our comparison. However, let us throw in the fact that most women are now handling the finances of the family EVEN if she is not the bread winner of the family, or even "working" in the traditional sense of things. While we are at it we could actually also throw into this one CFO and banker.

Psychologist when dealing with a few kids? Whatever could this mean? Being classified for the sake of this study/survey does not mean that these stay at home moms or work out of the home moms are certified psychologist. It does however mean that we as Mothers deal with many issues other then the whiny he hurt my feelings, or took my toy. We as Mothers have to be prepared for an enormous amount of different personalities and attitudes. We have to learn to adapt ourselves to deal with each individual in the home. We have to be prepared to answer any and all questions brought to us by everyone in that household. We have to have a solution or advice for all situations. Most of all we always have to be there to handle any crisis no matter how big or small it may seem to anyone else in the world.

I also mentioned on my own outside of the original mentioned article from Salary.com that the jobs of full time nurse, part-time doctor and banker needed to be added to their list. We already covered banker in this very article you are reading now. So, we will move onto full time nurse and part-time doctor. Mothers must keep an endless supply of peroxide, alcohol, bandages of all shapes, sizes, and designs, cotton balls, Q-tips, a wide variety of medicines to handle anything that is thrown our way. We are always on the alert for a cough, sniffle, scrap, cut, or anything else out of the ordinary. Barring broken bones, or drastic fevers we are part time doctors to ease the discomfort of tummy aches, headaches, or anything else that a moms kiss and hug can fix along with a little bit of Tylenol.

Some people out there took the Salary.com study/survey to mean that Mothers were demanding or expecting to be paid the amount of $138,095 to $224,034. Some people misunderstood the point that if you were to take into consideration the above mentioned jobs that each mother no matter if she stays at home or works out of the home deals with and does on a daily basis that this would be an acceptable amount to compensate her for those jobs. Nowhere in any of these articles is anyone demanding this pay, expecting this pay, or asking for this pay to care for our own children. The point was just what I said a moment ago, to give people an idea of what in a world controlled by money a mother could and should be paid if she were paid to do the things she does everyday out of love for her family, and her children.

Do not under estimate what Mothers do, or how they handle situations. Do not assume that Mothers can not handle any of the above jobs just because she does not have a degree for the field. Do not let yourself believe for a minute that Mothers are not important and are not people in a society just like yourself.

Also, I would like to point out that I have these same feelings whether we are speaking of Mothers or Fathers. Some fathers are stay at homers and I feel the same examples should apply to them as well. I am not limiting my opinion on this study/survey to that of just Mothers because Fathers in the home or working out of the home are just as important.

Give a little more respect to the women and MEN in the world that handle more on any given day then most people handle in a months time. Show some understanding to the women and men in the world that juggle family and work. Stand up and say Thank You to a Mother or a Father doing all she or he can to make sure her children and family are a functional part of our society.