‘What are Moms and Dad for?’ was one of the questions our local paper asked kindergarten children recently. Their answers are interesting. One said ‘to take care of you.’
Another a said, ‘taking care of you and buying food for you,’
‘For caring and sometimes helping with homework.’
But this answer saddened me. ‘They are for going to work and paying for things.’ It made me wonder what sort of home life this child had and how much he actually saw his parents.
Now I admit I was a stay-at-home Mom. Mick and I decided early on I would stay home and devote my time to making a home and spending time with our children. So it meant mostly money was tight and at times we went without some things. But that’s not always such a bad thing. It makes you appreciate things more when they do come. The advantage was I got to spend more time with our children. And I enjoyed them.
We both had a lot of input into the way they were raised, because we spent time with them.
Being a stay-at-home Mom didn’t mean I didn’t have interests outside the home. I still played tennis and went to bible study and playgroup where I interacted with other adults and our children with other children. Often Mick and I never had money for outings but we invited people over for a meal and a game of cards or a board game. That’s still one of our favorite activities with friends.
If we went to someone else’s place, we took our son along and come bed time he went to sleep there till it was time to come home. Then Mick picked him up. We never did seem to be able to manage to keep him asleep at this point. But as soon as we got home he went straight back to sleep so it was never a problem.
Our daughter was not as portable but only settled in her own bed, so we invited people over more, rather than leave her with babysitters. As far as we were concerned our children were too precious. They’re adults now. When we look at how they turned out, we’re glad we made the choices we did.
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