Stay at Home Mothers Should Get Paid

@lelin1123 (15595)
Puerto Rico
July 31, 2009 2:56pm CST
I have this theory I would like your thoughts. What if we paid our mom's to stay at home and take care of the kids and housework and errands? I believe our kids would be growing up a bit more stable and on the right track. Instead of having two parents gone all day and not knowing for sure what their kids were up to. Its the hardest job yet we don't get paid for it. From taking care of our babies, feeding them, laundry, cleaning house, food shopping, cooking meals, getting the older kids to school packing lunching, preparing clothes for school. This is a full time job that is not honored as it should be. It's taken for granted which is not right at all. It's to late for me because my kids are grown but I just thought about this and felt it was worth mentioning.
1 person likes this
13 responses
• India
1 Aug 09
Mommy - Pay the Mothers ..
Yes .. But i think they are cared for and given what they Need In Most House holds .. But I Do agree there's Nothing Called A Fixed Salary For the Mothers .. I AM For it For sure .. They Have To Be Handsomely rewarded for the Care And Love ..
1 person likes this
@mobhomeir (7558)
• Philippines
2 Aug 09
Mothers' obligation in her home is priceless. If this could be paid by money or something I think, in my own opinion, you need a helper or maids rather than a mother....for me mother is an unsung heroine in our home...they are priceless..
@lelin1123 (15595)
• Puerto Rico
2 Aug 09
If more moms were able to stay home and raise their kids then I believe the kids will feel more love and have a more stable life, then coming home to an empty house after school. Thank you for responding.
• United States
31 Jul 09
Amen to that lelin! I've been a stay at home mom for almost nineteen years! I haven't worked for thirteen. Last year at Christmas, I tried to get a seasonal job but didn't even get an interview. And of course, now there are so many people unemployed that there's no way they'll hire me now. Most people think that mothers have no skills outside the family. But what is our job exactly? we are cooks, cleaners, managers and taxi drivers, just to name a few. And I even applied to a craft retailer because I do them at home almost daily. But they don't appreciate that. So that's why I am on mylot and other paying sites trying to subsidize our income in this economic crunch. although, it takes time, unfortunately. Mothers are underappreciated by their families but also by the outside world. And after all, aren't we the ones who made our kids who they are so they can go out and work in the world? This issue is definitly a peeve of mine too.
@lelin1123 (15595)
• Puerto Rico
31 Jul 09
Thank you for agreeing. Once you have been home for awhile they don't want you back in the workforce. Its a terrible situation and I just don't think its fair especially when you have been home raising kids to hopefully have hard working law abiding citizens of America. Good luck to you and thank you for responding.
@anangf (1146)
• Indonesia
31 Jul 09
Steph, You have wonderful thouhgt
@maximax8 (31053)
• United Kingdom
12 Oct 09
A secretary might work Monday to Friday 09.00 until 17.00. She won't have to get on in the night and the only other commitment she has is the time spent traveling to and from work. A stay at home mother works very hard indeed and yet she doesn't get paid for the work she does. I think that she should get paid. She has to be around 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Looking after a young baby is a very demanding job. I have a 14 week old baby girl, a 28 month old toddler son and a 14 year old son. My toddler son keeps me very busy and his diary is full of appointments. Last week he had a had an appointment at a hospital that took up most of the day. I love my children.
@lelin1123 (15595)
• Puerto Rico
12 Oct 09
Yes, like Oprah says its the hardest job in the world and I totally agree. Good luck in finding the patients in being a full time mother and I commend you and all stay at home moms all over the world. Thank you for responding.
@Polly289 (269)
• New Zealand
31 Jul 09
I'm inclined to agree with you there. If we mothers were paid for all the hours we put in we'd be worth in excess of $200,000 pa. Course, that's just a rough estimate. The hours after giving birth. The 24/7 call-outs for everything from a broken thumbnail to "the boyfriends left me!!!". We're nurse, doctor, pshychiatrist, friend, lover, interior designer - the list goes on. So I figure we deserve a little compensation for all that. Don't you? At the other end of the scale, we have to remember, it is a path many of us have chosen and love. So I suppose, doing it out of love has a lot to be said for it too.
@Polly289 (269)
• New Zealand
1 Aug 09
Too true. Children can't get into as much trouble when mums at home. Having said that, I posted a discussion earlier on along the same vein, regarding my daughter. Funny thing was, when I was working, she played the game. The minute I stopped she decided to get up to all kinds of mischief. Guess there's a message in there somewhere.
@lelin1123 (15595)
• Puerto Rico
1 Aug 09
I heard thru another response that our pay would be $186,000 a year. However, I not saying to get pay like that but just to be able to be home with our kids like my mom was home with us. I think kids were not inclined to get in trouble as offen because mom was home. Now with both parents out of the house we sometimes don't really know what is going on in the children's lives. There is a bit of disconnect I think. Thank you for responding.
@Ruby722 (796)
• China
1 Aug 09
I think you do have a good piont.Sometimes we always ignore mother's job at home.Actually they did a lot of work maybe it's details.If they should get paid it's deserved.But most of mothers won't recived salaries form their children.That's why mothers always the great woman in your life.
@lelin1123 (15595)
• Puerto Rico
1 Aug 09
Thank you for responding.
• China
1 Aug 09
Wow, what a wodful suggestion you've posted. And I totally surport your idea, so maybe I will take an action like that in t5he future.
@lelin1123 (15595)
• Puerto Rico
2 Aug 09
Good Luck in that and thank you for responding.
@ibuemma (2953)
• United States
31 Jul 09
Back three years ago. THere's a site that try to calculate the salary of a full time and stayhome Mom annually. Ready for it : it's $186,000/ year based on all stay home mom duties, cooking, cleaning, child care, etc ...That our slary should be yearly!
@lelin1123 (15595)
• Puerto Rico
31 Jul 09
LOL LOL LOL Really, I would be happy with a third of that. Thanks for the info and for responding.
@cher8558 (425)
• Canada
1 Aug 09
Hi friend, I have thought of that for years. I also have three grown children. But thats what has happened to our children, other people taking care of them, and just for the money. Most of them don't really care what happens to their futures. Yes, moms should have been paid from day 1, child 1. Cheryl
@lelin1123 (15595)
• Puerto Rico
1 Aug 09
Thanks some people don't agree. However I know if I was able to stay home with my daughters my youngest daughter would have graduated with her class. Instead I had to pay over 1000.00 so she could get a high school diploma. On top of the expense of spending 4 years in High School and not accomplishing what she was suppose to. Thank you for responding.
• United States
31 Jul 09
i think if we did get paid for it then there would be a lot more stay at home moms and maybe even dads , but paying us would really put some one in the whole because our job is a 24/7 job it never ends unless we are asleep so someone would go broke and be put in the whole from paying us to take care of the house and kids and stuff.but i do like your way of thinking
@lelin1123 (15595)
• Puerto Rico
31 Jul 09
Yes the job is 24/7 but if we got paid for at least 8 hours a day wouldn't take be an incentive to stay home, taking care of our children. To raise responsible law abiding citizens who hopfully will do great things for the world. I think it would be worth it in the long run. Thanks for responding.
@anniefannie (1737)
• United States
31 Jul 09
if stay at home Moms got paid for they had to do they would be rich.i saw on tv one time they adding all the things she would do and how much it would pay it was a lot of money i forgot the amount but it was a lot.i never was a stay home mom i had to work but i really had good child care and the day care taught them a lot too.
@lelin1123 (15595)
• Puerto Rico
31 Jul 09
Yes I heard from another response that it was 186,000 dollars a year. Thanks for responding.
@grace118224 (1038)
• China
1 Aug 09
Well it really depends on what kind of our moms they are . My mother helped to raise my niece for 6 years and she really enjoyed to do it . She didn't care about the payment . In our country grandmothers are supposed to take care of their grandsons and most of them do . They live with their sons and grandsons so i don't think they get regularly get paid. Of course some nice sons would give some extra money to their moms for her help.
@lelin1123 (15595)
• Puerto Rico
1 Aug 09
Yes I'm a grandmother now and I take care of my granddaughter for nothing. Yes I enjoy it very much. The point I'm trying to make is back in the day when my mom stayed home, things were in order we knew what was expected of us. We had dicipline 24/7. Now for the past 20 something years if not more both parents have had to work. This has the kids coming home to no one in charge in many cases. The parents at work are not aware of their kids friends that may be hanging out in their house. Where their kids may be or what they could be up to. That is my point. So if a parent was able to stay home and get paid 8 hours a day then the kids would not be getting in trouble and there would be discipline in their lives. Thank you for responding.
• United States
31 Jul 09
I definitely agree that being a full time parent is a tolling job, but I don't think it should be one that makes a paycheck. If mother's became stay at home moms it would go back to how things were before women's liberation, except for the single woman. What I do think is that they should open up an agency that helps stay at home parents find stay at home jobs that they can fit into their lifestyle. This would be beneficial on multiple levels instead of instituting another tax to pay stay at home parents.
@lelin1123 (15595)
• Puerto Rico
31 Jul 09
That would be great to have an agency that helps stay-at-home moms but there isn't any and there probably will never be. I honestly don't think anyone cares about the stay-at-home mom or her desire to have a job that she loves and can earn money doing. Thanks for responding.
@tajadu (2)
• United States
31 Jul 09
I don't know... I am a stay at home mom myself. It is not easy, some days it is mentally trying as well financially. My reward and incentive is knowing at the end of the day I have taken good care of my kids and I am raising intellegent, well rounded children with good morals and values. Lets face it, we are the ones deciding to have children. If we were paid an hourly rate for staying home with our own kids, a job we can not clock out for, what sort of values and restraints are we giving ourselves and our children? Do we stop taking care of the home and family after eight hours? Knowing how financilly difficult it is to be a stay at home mom, my husband And I still decided to have this life. I think being a stay at home parent is more and more understood, accepted, and respected.