Tag: shared articles

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How Much is a Homemaker Worth?

Finally, i can tell my husband how much he should be giving… hmmm… no… how much he should be paying me…

How Much is a Homemaker Worth? | MintLife Blog | Personal Finance News & Advice.

But seriously, being a Stay-At-Home-Mum (SAHM) or a Homemaker or a Home Manager isn’t a walk in the park, it isn’t all coffee and chit-chat. Like i said to a friend recently, there are things which will not get done or will not be done as well if i were not a SAHM (actually i prefer the title of Home Manager ;)).

i closed my home business almost 10 months ago and since then i have been wondering to myself, how on earth did i get everything done before and still run a business which involved a fair amount of travel? Of course, there were weeks when i would have to leave the cleaning till next week or hire extra help to look after my little boy so that i could run my business. Now that i don’t have the business to mind, i’m still finding that my time seems limited, there even seems to be more to do! How is that possible? i’m don’t know – i’m still trying to find out.

Let’s look at what i do during a typical week (just talking Monday to Friday):

i do roughly 8 hours of cleaning the house and the laundry for the week. Cooking takes up maybe 10 hours a week (just counting 5 days per week). i do German classes and Bible Study so that’s about 9 hours including travel time and homework time. Then there is helping kid with homework which adds up to about 1.5 hours a week (he’s only in 1st grade). We also have to count the time we care for kid in other ways, reading to him, playing with him, teaching him other skills like cooking/making models etc, making him snacks, taking him to his different activities – that’s takes up most of the rest of the week. So if you count the hours for that, roughly adds up to 37 hours of childcare.

So in a typical 5 day week, a Home Manager works roughly 65.5 hours. This is not counting midnight wake-ups for various things from nightmares to needing water to putting in extra nightlight. Then there is also the weekend in which a Home Manager works too… although ideally the workload is supposed to be split by half (doesn’t always happen that way).

A Home Manager also doesn’t get vacation time. In fact if you look at it factually, a Home Manager actually takes her/his work on vacation 😉 Oh and there is most definitely no such thing as being on sick leave… there is work to be done even if you are ill, especially so if you have a spouse who travels lots for work.

Doing it all for them & getting paid in love, hugs & kisses 😉

Now all this is not to complain that i dislike being a Home Manager or Homemaker or SAHM – i like being all that. i’m just happy to know that someone has put a monetary value on what i do as a Home Manager 😀 Right now, my “salary” are love, hugz and kisses 😉

syc

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Team Studer: 25 Rules for Mothers of Sons

What a lovely list…

Team Studer: 25 Rules for Mothers of Sons.

i heart

1. Teach him the words for how he feels.

i find this a rather difficult thing to do… mainly cos i rarely identify out loud my own emotions but i do think this is soooo very very important for boys, especially! So i will continue to try…

2. Be a cheerleader for his life

Every kid needs encouragement. Every kid needs someone who will be there always, shouting, “Go! You can do it! Go!” Someone who will believe in him no matter what. And i can do that, i love to do that!

4. Read to him and read with him.

My favourite time with my little guy is when we crash onto my bed and he lays there while i read a big book with loads of words (no pictures) in it. He likes it too… not always, but when i insists, he ends up enjoying it… We also read before bedtime, read on the trains, planes etc…

10. Give him something to believe in

Faith is so very important. Without faith, there is no hope. Without hope, what is life? My faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is what keeps me going, day in, day out. And that is one thing i hope to pass this faith onto him, which i firmly believe will help him through his life, will give him direction and hope and purpose.

15. Let him lose

Oooh, this is such a bone with my little guy – he HATES to lose. That’s something his teacher pointed out in a recent teacher-parent meeting. He is getting better. Now he doesn’t throw the cards when he loses. He simply growls at you and says in a loud i-mean-business voice, “We’ll play till i win!” i pray hard he learns that winning isn’t everything… it’s the fun we had playing with each other…

20. Let his dad teach him how to do things

His daddy travels a fair bit for work so as much as i can, i get him to do stuff with daddy. i’ll even buy model kits for them to build so that they have something all ready for them to work on.

21. Give him something to release his energy

My little guy has soooo much energy – it’s so very amazing… but i believe i had a similar level of energy when i was his age too… This daily energy release is very important or both of us will be driven up the wall…

23. Take him to new places

i never leave him at home whenever i can. My parents took me and my brother everywhere – i mean EVERYWHERE… unless the place or invitation specifically states ‘no kids’. Babysitters were just never an option for my parents so we went with them or learnt early on how to stay at home by ourselves. So i have done the same for my boy – i take him everywhere and as soon as he showed enough independence, he stayed at home when we could not bring him with (this rarely happened).

24. Kiss him

i love kissing my little guy! He likes it too. But i have a sneaky suspicion that this “loving-kissing” stage isn’t going to last much longer – at least not in public 😉

25. Be home base

Letting him go is & will be harder for me than for my husband. But i pray that when the day comes to let him explore the world on his own, God give me courage and hold me back. i also pray that my little guy will know that i’m always here for him – ALWAYS. Just as God is always here for us.

On boat from Lausanne to Vevey, Oct 2011

Which are your favourites? Do you have anything else to add?

syc

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This is one of those truly inspirational stories which needs to be told to a world where hope & faith are fading away… to quote this brave strong little gal – “If I (she) can do it, so can you.”