Publisher's Note: Wondering What I Did all Day

You might have seen it too. An article floating around cyberspace with a question to the editor from a kidless gal wondering what her mommy friend does all day that makes her unavailable to "hang out" with her friend. I often wonder this same thing about myself. As a former full-time working mom who now "stays home" (according to my husband, but in reality I am managing two small businesses while raising three kids) I often hit the couch exhausted at the end of the day, but feeling unaccomplished. When I worked outside the home we still had groceries to buy, laundry to do, bills to pay, etc. and it all got done and somehow I also had 8-9 hours to spend away from home at a paying job. Now that I'm home I struggle to find the time to sit down and tackle the bills, the laundry sometimes sits in the dryer and the daily household chores are an endless task. So I wonder to myself - how is I get less done, rather than more?

To figure this out let's look at what I might call my typical "at-home" day: Kids wake up somewhere between 6-7 a.m., help everyone get dressed, change diaper on youngest, breakfast, make lunches, brush teeth, shower for me and then get out the door for kindergarten drop off by 8 a.m. Three days a week kindergarten drop off is followed by preschool dropoff for my middle son. Then I take the littlest guy home and try to get some house work, etc. done while he takes a nap. Before i know it it's time for preschool pickup, then lunchtime, cleaning up after lunchtime, an activity to keep the two boys from destroying whatever I was able to get done in the morning and then kindergarten pickup. Once all three boys are home I become referee, homework helper, safety monitor (keeping one year old out of trouble), etc. During this time before dinner I pretty much follow the kids around the house removing objects off tabletops, providing snacks and water and entertainment, helping with toys, etc. If by some miracle they do have a few minutes where they seem self-occupied and I try to make a phone call or hop on the computer to get something done suddenly disaster strikes...everyone will need something - it might be help in the bathroom, a fight over a toy, or a spilled water glass. If a task should take 15 minutes, adding kids to the mix makes it a one hour mission. Being home, instead of away from the house all day, also offers three times the messes to clean up (whatever the house looked like in the morning is not what you come home to, instead its mission control and lego, fort building and a Monster Truck race has taken over). To tell you the truth I am still not sure what I do all day as far as single tasks accomplished, but here are a few things I know about what parents (working and stay at home) are doing:

• We are providing for our kids so that they can have the opportunities we want them to 
• We are shaping the workers and parents of the future
• We are providing a nurturing environment where they can learn, grow and develop

Whether you are at home creating these opportunities on your own, or working hard at a paying job so that you can afford to offer the opportunities to your children we are all in it together. It's one of those things that people without kids will never truly understand - I know before I had children of my own I never fully did. They don't need to. Our life circumstances, our choice to fulfill a career and parent children - or not to, is our own and if I was sitting at home watching Days of Our Lives all day instead of calling old friends because that's what I needed to do to make it through the day than that's what I should do. Being a parent is hard enough work, without trying to justify how you do it. As long as you told your kids you love them at some point during the day I think you accomplished all you needed to for one day. And if you were able to say it to your own parents that same day you were working overtime. 

If you are really looking for a bonus - take the kids on an adventure this week. We have lots of ideas in our calendar, and a review of a day-trip to the USS Iowa that is highly recommended. If you're looking for childcare options, educational opportunities or more for your preschool age child the biggest local preschool fair we know of is Saturday and if your looking for a fun, easy craft to keep the kids busy for a while Sara at MakeSpace ARTS offers a Macaroni idea. Motor Sports fans the Monster Truck Jam returns starting this Saturday and if you missed it last week we announced the winners of our 2012 Macaroni Approved establishments. With all this fun it will be hard to find time to make dinner so we also added a fun and easy chicken chili recipe.

Enjoy your week!

Faith Mellinger
Editor/co-Publisher
faithm@macaronikid.com

You can also reach co-publisher Joyce Sakonju at joyces@macaronikid.com - she loves to receive your free and low cost public events for families!