The Toughest, Best Job on Earth

Motherhood doesn't come with a manual. In the morning, a mom doesn't wake up and roll over to find a detailed account of how to tackle each situation of the day ahead alongside her coffee mug.

Whether you're a stay-at-home mom, a work-at-home mom or a career mom, the fact remains you have to juggle at least three jobs: wife, mom and household coordinator. The function of a coordinator means you have to keep up with everyone's schedules, manage the meals, get the groceries, handle the bills, keep up with the laundry and clean the house (among other things). That's a full-time job right there.

Our society looks down on the importance and difficulty involved in being a mother. Stay-at-home moms especially find themselves shunned and/or scrutinized for the decision they made to make their child or children their sole focus. What could they possibly have to do all day beside sit on the sofa watching soap operas and eating bon-bons. And, most people don't see any difference between a stay-at-home mom and a work-at-home mom; so the women in that category get the same reactions.

Then, you have the working mom. Well, she gets the jabs from both sides: she needs to pour it all into her job to climb that ladder; and she needs to have the perfect kids and be the perfect mom who's always there for every PTA meeting, recital or game.

What people who aren't moms don't realize is the job of mother, by itself, is THE HARDEST JOB IN THE WORLD. If anyone wants to disagree, I'd be happy to give them a moment-by-moment glimpse into my day--and I only have one child right now!

Children require total emotional, physical and mental focus throughout the day. Even when their children are tucked away in dreamland, moms replay decisions they made throughout the day, fretting over whether they chose correctly or not. Even in their sleep, moms dream they're feeding their children, dressing them, going through the routine of potty training, packing their bags and putting them together to go to the store, etc.

Being a mom is the only true 24/7/365 job. I have to be honest; I struggled with motherhood when I first had Allie. I'm sure I will dedicate later posts to that topic. I'll never forget the day it hit me that I'll never have another day off and can't call in sick. Man, did that set me into a nosedive!!

Even women blessed with the most supportive and helpful of husbands (like me) get overwhelmed at the fact that so many things rely on them. Allie wants Me to read her bedtime stories; Allie prefers sometimes for ME to take her to the potty; Allie often fusses unless she gets her dinner from ME. Plus, moms just KNOW where things go, why little ones are fussy and where the monsters hide. We understand that the pink cup is for breakfast and the blue cup is for going out to a restaurant, although it makes no sense to anyone else.

So, I write all this to encourage moms everywhere that you are amazing! You have the toughest job on the planet and juggle it with at least a couple more full-time jobs. How you do it, I'll never understand; but I do know that your job will have eternal results because you are molding, loving and training tomorrow's leaders--tell that to the CEO of some big stuffy company who wants to look down his nose at you when he learns you're "just a mom!" I don't think his million-dollar bank account and mansion with all the latest electronics can compete with eternity:)