Stay-home mum misconceptions

 
I want to be a stay home mum once the kids start coming. In my opinion being a mother and wife is the most important thing that the Lord has given me to do. I can have a job and still give my family enough attention but I don't want to do it that way. My decision to stay at home has not been met with kind words from quite a number of people. There are a lot of misconceptions about stay home mums and I'm sure some of you have heard them before.

Recently, I was involved in a discussion on stay home mums with two gentlemen and I was the only one supporting the idea. Let me list down some of the things that are said about stay home mums which I believe are far from the truth:

• Stay home mums don't do anything the whole day. Well, I'd like to see a stay home mum  have 8 hours of nothing to do while the little ones run about the house doing whatever they want. Stay home mums probably have a lot more work to do than working mums. They have to feed the kids, clean the house, change diapers, make sure the kids don't wreck the house and still have a meal on the table for the hungry hubby when he returns. Now, doesn't that seem harder than sitting at a desk all day typing on your computer or sitting through meetings? 
• Stay home mums have zero ambition. On the contrary, stay home mums have A LOT of ambition. They want to make sure that their husbands and children succeed at everything they get their hands on. Gone are the days of housewives who were semi house maids. These days the stay home mum can work from home while keeping an eye on her young ones. It allows her to have a flexible schedule and to be her own boss. Ambitious? I think so.
• Stay home mums don't take care of themselves. At some point all of us women get too comfortable and stop doing our hair and nails every week, we start to wear cotton pyjamas instead of the sexy lingerie we started out with and many times this happens even before the kids show up. Am I right ladies? Sure its hard to stay in touch with fashion when you have kids and have put on some weight but it does not make it impossible. Every woman needs to stay on top of their appearance and it takes a little work. Sometimes we may get a bit lazy but we need to give ourselves a good scolding when we do because our husbands and kids need to be able to say with pride "Look at my mum/ wife."  My point is you don't have to be a stay home mum to 'lose' it. You may have to work a little harder but it's NOT impossible.
• Being a stay home mum makes one dull and they never know what's happening out in the world. Seriously?????? Have you not heard of the internet???? There are good books to read too. In this day and age there really is no excuse for staying in the dark.

I remember telling a friend of mine who is a stay home mum that I would like to do the same. She looked me straight in the eye and asked me if I was ready for it. When I asked her what she meant she explained that there will be a lot of people who will look down on me for choosing to stay home. She said sometimes people don't want to involve you in intelligent discussions because they don't think you'll be able to contribute. I told her that I was up for the challenge and I believe I am.

People have asked me why I would go to school, get a good degree, work for a while and then give it up to look after my husband and kids. First of all, I did not go to school in order to get a job at the end of it. I believe my parents took me to school so that I would get educated and be able to exercise my intelligence. Therefore, school should have taught me how to seize the opportunities that come my way and should have improved my social skills.

Women have the gift to multitask and the special grace that God has given them to raise a family. I respect women who work and raise families - my mum is one of them and she did a wonderful job. It's hard to do both and one has to make sure they have enough time for the family but it is possible.

I wish I could say that I can do the same but I can't. I want to be with my kids whenever I want to and to watch them grow into the men and women that the Lord wants them to be. Yes, I went to school and I'm intelligent but I have decided to be a stay home mum because I will feel more accomplished in that role. Please note that I'm not criticizing working mothers. I'm just saying that single mums have jobs too - 24/7 jobs along with rather difficult bosses :) and its ok to be educated and decide to stay home. 

I'm looking forward to spending time with my babies, cooking for my family and watching my family grow.

What do you have to say about stay home mums?