Stay at Home Parent – Hardest Job of All
The beginning of the school year… such a bittersweet time. The summer is gone and you don’t get every day with your precious little one… That is till you remember all the times they were screaming in your face and throwing toys at your head! Let me explain why I have tremendous respect for a stay at home parent.
I have to work all summer, but my wife is a teacher and so she is at home with the kids. Every day I would get home, she needed a break. I don’t blame her. One time my wife went on a conference trip and I had to watch the boys all by myself for a couple days. I still don’t how I survived, and neither does she. More power to full time stay at home parent: the hardest job of all.
I know how they really act throughout the day. But as soon as I get home they are the sweetest little boys that wouldn’t hurt a fly. Meanwhile, their mom is slamming a glass of wine telling me everything they did that wasn’t sweet. They just stand there with little grins and halos above their heads. My wife loves it though. She wants so bad to be a stay-at-home mom. It’s just crazy the difference between me and my wife when getting the boys ready for something.
If we have somewhere to go on a weeknight, she has the boys ready, car packed up, and the dog put away right as I’m pulling in the driveway. It’s a work of art really! One time before church on a Sunday morning, my wife wanted to squeeze in a bike ride. So I lovingly volunteered to get the boys ready to go. She got back home with only an hour to spare before we had to be at church. Were the boys all ready and the car packed up? No…. we were still in our pajamas watching Avengers: Infinity War…. But I did feed everyone breakfast and get the coffee made!
My wife is the first one to leave in the morning during the school year. That leaves me to get the boys up and ready. I manage to pull it off every day! Yeah, sometimes we miss the bus and I have to drive them to school or one of the boys drops a jar of salsa all over the floor as we are walking out the door (yes, that really happened). But you just learn to roll with it and move on.
Mornings are definitely an adventure for me during the school year. I can’t imagine what it would be like all day every day. Like I said before, more power to all the stay at home moms and dads out there!