The other day I posed a question to my husband: "Do you think that you could ever be a stay-at-home dad?"
He contemplated this for a moment, then replied, "Maybe, if not for all the house stuff."
"The house stuff," as any stay-at-home parent can attest to, is a big part of the job. It's a part of what many refer to as the "mental load" that mothers carry. It's knowing what groceries you are running low on, what needs to be washed for the upcoming days, who has a doctor’s appointment and who needs a permission slip signed. It's a sink full of dishes to be cleaned, laundry that piles up faster than you could ever hope to get a handle on and a plethora of minor chores that you seem to never be able to get to.
It never ends, and it's exhausting
You are doing your best, and tomorrow is another day
But whether you are a working mom, a stay-at-home mom, or a work from home mom, there is one perk to motherhood that remains the same: It's watching your kids develop before your eyes. It's witnessing them take their first steps, speak their first words, ditch the diapers for big-boy underpants and develop their independence.
It's both beautiful and heartbreaking to watch
You will be so proud of them while simultaneously yearning for them to be little forever.
I could have never anticipated the amount of self-motivation that being a stay-at-home mom would require, but when the mental load threatens to rob me of my sanity, and my motivation for the many jobs of motherhood wanes, I try to remember that the only thing I really need to do is love them.
And that’s the easiest job of all.
