"What do you do?"

It starts early in life.  People start asking, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"  I must admit I've asked my own children this question.  When I was in upper-elementary school my answer was a meteorologist.  Later that answer changed and I would say I wanted to be a teacher.  The truth of the matter was that I didn't know what to answer.  I really didn't want an occupation. What I wanted was to get married and have babies but that didn't seem to be the thing to say and I had to say something so I answered with, "teacher".  When the time came to make plans for my future I had to do something.  I had no marriage prospects whatsoever so I looked into colleges with the intent to get my teaching certification.  The problem was that I wanted to attend a small Christian college that at the time did not offer the degree.  I decided to start there and see what happened.  After my freshman year they formed a partnership with another small college and began offering education classes.  I still wasn't sure this was what I wanted but I had to do something.  I had to begin a path to my future of some sort.

With in the next couple of years several things happened.  I met the man I intended to marry and he was just fine with my desire to be a stay at home mom.  While I enjoyed my education classes I was even more unsure that I really wanted a teaching job.  I began hearing that teaching jobs were getting harder to come by and, the education program I was in was floundering.  I decided to finish college with a general degree. I am proud of that degree.  I don't think any education is wasted.  I don't think a girl should be denied the college experience just because she wants to be a homemaker.

Now, when people ask what I do I say, "Oh, I'm just a stay at home mom."  Being a stay at home parent means different things to different families.  To me personally it means that because I am not bringing money into the home my job is to keep it from going out.  I do this in many different ways.  The most obvious is that we don't pay for daycare because I am home with the kids but there is more that I do.

We don't pay for preschool.  I am home, I teach my children.  We don't pay for laundry service.  I am home, I wash and iron my husband's work clothes.  We don't pay for someone to clean.  I am home, I clean my home.  We don't pay to go out to eat often.  I am home, I cook our meals.  We don't pay for fancy birthday cakes.  I am home, I bake and decorate cakes for my children.  We don't buy school lunches, I am home, I pack my kids' lunch and my husband's lunch too.  Because I am home I take time to coupon and cook from scratch to keep our grocery bills lower.  I garage sale and have garage sales.  I don't need work clothes. I don't use a lot of gas.

When people ask the question, "So, what do you do?"  I say, "Oh, I'm just a stay at home mom." But what I mean is, "I am a day care worker, preschool teacher, laundress, maid, chef, baker, cafeteria worker, coupon clipper, and bargain hunter, who works from home."