Your Job as a Stay at Home Mom.

I take my job as a stay at home mom pretty serious. It is a job that you don't get paid monetarily for, but the other benefits are pretty amazing. Where else can you shape a person's character? The sole responsibility for shaping the way that person responds to other people and the world around them is on our shoulders. That is not a job to shrug at.
 So naturally the other day when a friend of mine asked me why I have been so busy lately if I am not holding down an outside job, I was a little irritated. Really? She even has kids of her own. I'm not sure what people think goes on when you stay at home all day. First of all, at my house, I make the deposits, I pay the bills, I take care of the books and tax stuff, I haul the kids around, I clean house and wash clothes and cook. I feed the horses and clean stalls. I play with the kids, I teach the kids, I do the shopping and tend to the garden....need I go on? When I write this I don't want it to sound like my husband doesn't help. We share the cooking. He does clean up, and has been known to wash a load of clothes if needed. We work on the finances together. We really are a team. However, I can never understand people that really don't comprehend how much work it is every day of the week to take care of two kids under five. On top of that I have a fifteen year old stepson that I haul back and forth to school, some too.
  Maybe there are some of you out there that have time to sit around and watch soaps. I have not watched any TV during the day in forever. Yes, sometimes I put a movie on for my four year old so I can get on Facebook or something, but even that is rare. I am kind of funny about how much TV or movie time he gets. In the morning when I make my coffee I normally have to reheat it numerous times before I get a cup drank.
 I'm not saying this for anyone to feel sorry for me. This is what I chose. I love it and wouldn't change it, but please don't minimize it. It is a full time job that is physically and mentally exhausting. In the end I believe it is the most important job a person could do and that is why it is so serious to me. That is why I analyze my response and my kids responses so much.  So just a hint.....don't ask a stay home mom what she does to fill her time. Trust me she has no time to fill and is lucky to get any time to herself at all without scheduling it.