Study: Stay-at-home moms deserve high pay

Dedicated to all the SAHM's (Stay-at-home moms) in the world, especially my personal superheroes: Sara, Kimmy, MaryBeth, Brooke, Jeanette. You are all making the world better, one multi-tasking day at a time.
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From MSNBC.com

NEW YORK - The old adage that “a mother's work is never done” remains as true now as ever. Today's stay-at-home moms are learning what their predecessors always knew — they'd be making a lot of money doing their job outside the home.

Just in time for Mother's Day, an informal study conducted by Web site Salary.com shows that stay-at-home moms would earn an average of $131,471 annually, including overtime, if they received a paycheck.

A sampling of the 5.4 million stay-at-home mothers were asked to come up with job titles that fit a general description of their daily routines.

The titles — which reflected the most time-consuming parts of their day — include day-care center teacher, van driver, housekeeper, cook, chief executive officer, nurse and general maintenance worker, the survey showed.

Of course, a stay-at-home parent does not work typical office hours. The hypothetical median salary is based on a 100-hour work week and assumes caring for at least two children of school age.

“The importance of this calculation or this estimate is just calling attention to the fact that being a stay-at-home mom is not a cop out, it's not the woman's way out of the work force and it's not a job of no value,” said Bill Coleman, senior vice president of compensation at Salary.com. “There is a lot of value there, and some would say it's even priceless.”

Salary.com, which tracks what jobs pay, suggested that the annual base pay for a 40-hour stay-at-home mom's workweek would be $43,461. Mothers would earn an additional $88,009 a year for 60 hours of overtime each week.

“I think I should definitely make that much,” said Joanna Butti, who stays at home to care for her twin boys. “It's a hard job.”

Coleman said feedback on the figure was mixed. Some felt mothers deserved more, some less. In general, though, many were pleased to see a figure above $100,000.

“Stay-at-home moms are enthusiastic and upbeat about their jobs, they didn't seem to need external validation,” Coleman told Reuters. “They were also happy that they were getting attention, and that somebody was out there telling the world that what they do is valuable, and perhaps more valuable than one would expect.”

Mothers said you cannot attach a figure to the time spent with their kids.

“I'm giving 150 percent of myself to them many hours a day,” said Debra Miley, who stays home with two-year old daughter Olivia and four-month old son Gregory. “You cannot attach a dollar value to the time that you spend nurturing your child if you're lucky enough to be a stay-at-home mom.”

Water Words

So, the shower seems to be one of the only places that I get to be truly alone. I savor those 10, 15, and if I'm really greedy and irresponsible, 20 minutes of peace and quiet and healing water.

Our shower is one that is glass-enclosed. Through it I can see out our window and view our neighbor's bougainvillea moving in the breeze.

Yesterday, I noticed the way the steam was slowly veiling the glass. I saw my reflection. In an instant, I knew what I had to do. My fingers reached up to the steam covered glass walls of the shower and began moving, writing, dancing...

With tears suddenly in my eyes, breath deep down within me, and without thought, a poem arose... an open poem to my C-section. Yes, it made so much sense to scrawl it, furiously, in the steam...knowing the words would soon dissapate and I'd not be able to recall them exactly. It was freeing, liberating. Like the healing process of the Tibetan mandala...a work of art whose grains of sands are finally swept up and poured into flowing water...my words were to exist briefly, literally, within water. And then, they would be gone.

I wrote with a torrid pace on each wall of glass, from the top to the bottom, twice. Forming letters and words with just my fingers felt magical, powerful, wicked, and blessed. My hands moved without a thought and words flowed continuously.
And to cry in the shower is just as magical, powerful, wicked, and blessed. The tears were carried away, like my words, to never exist again. Indeed, I felt healed.

When my poem was complete, I stood back, like an artist studying her painting, and watched my words. Have you ever watched your words?... Slowly they melted, changed, dripped, and eventually faded. Like my pain, my scar. But two lines of my poem remained visible even after I stepped out of the shower, warm and clean, refreshed and renewed...

"...but in the end, you made me strong".

The Best of the Worst

The Best of the Worst

List-a-mania, as they call it, has set in for me. I blame it on laziness and an exhausted mental state. Here are some of my latest personal favs in the “Best of the Worst” department.

Best of the Worst…Fast Foods

• In-n-Out Burgers
• Wetzel’s Pretzels
• Sonic’s French Toast Sticks (with syrup!)
• Krispy Kreme warm, chocolate iced donuts (Folks, you get ½ dozen free donuts on your birthday. Plus a mug filled with your choice of beverage. Yep. I drove through three different KK locations last year. That equals 1.5 dozen free, gratis, greasy, warm, sugary lumps of heavenly treat. Guilt-free, of course, on your birthday)

Best of the Worst…Indulgent Foods

• Choc-o-diles (always priced at like .39 cents or something at the gas stations)
• Milky Way Midnight candy bars
• Paradise Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies (duh!)
• E.L. Fudge Cookies (dipped in milk)
• Golden Oreos (very addictive)
• My own concoction called “Preggo Delight”: Rainbow sherbet w/gummi bears and peanut butter cups

Best of the Worst…Shopping Spree Addictions

• Fashion Q/Xi (so cheap, so trendy. full of strippers!)
• Ross Dress for Less (designer purses and shoes for a steal. Great maternity too)
• Last Chance (Nordstrom bargain designer clothes – ya gotta hunt-n-peck. Don’t go on Saturdays unless you want to battle or arm wrestle)
• Ann Taylor Loft (classy, simple)
• Old Navy (fun, so much variety, comfy maternity. Plus, baby clothes!)

Best of the Worst…Bad Habits

• Chewing fingernails (stress reliever)
• Not refilling the toilet paper roll (sometimes, it just feels good to half-ass things)
• Consistently underestimating arrival/departure times (a.k.a being late)
• Stashing unfolded laundry (dirty or clean) away in my closet, in a basket (a big “F-you” to household chores)
• Removing my shoes in random spots…and leaving them there (pure laziness)

Best of the Worst…Reality TV Shows

• American Inventor (laugh your butt off)
• American Idol (particularly the early auditions)
• OK, I just realized I actually don’t watch enough TV to really be able to elaborate on this topic

Best of the Worst…Excuses to Blog Instead of: Go to Bed, Pay Bills, Clean the Kitchen, Change a Dirty Diaper, Go #1, Got #2, Eat for the First Time All Day

• It’s therapeutic
• I can wallow in other people’s problems
• I can live vicariously through other people (gotta check in on my girly girls)
• “It helps me to sharpen my saw”
• Too lazy to call everyone who I’d like to update on my boring, crazy, lovely, wouldn’t-trade-it life
• I might garner a compliment…or not
• “I’m documenting Kaia’s life!”

Best of the Worst…Things I’ve Said Out of Frustration and Impatience Lately to My Dear Husband (all of which I immediately apologized for…or soon thereafter)

• YOU try working from home AND taking care of a baby twice a week! (pity party)
• At some point you really need to decide to stop working and spend time with your family on Easter! (which he did)
• Sometimes I feel like a single Mom! (ohhh, that was uncalled for)
• …Sure, just like you try and put the dishes away in the dishwasher when you are done with them. (When he kindly asked if I could try to put my shoes up when I take them off)
• Shhhhh, don’t wake the baby! (repeated Every. Single. Morning. while I’m still in bed. He has never complained)

Best of the Worst…Excuses for Being a Homebody

• “I’m an introvert”