Work at Home Mom's Week

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By Diane Forrest

A man was sick and tired of going to work every day while his wife stayed home, so he prayed:

"Dear Lord: I go to work every day and put in 8 hours while my wife merely stays at home. I want her to know what I go through, so please allow her body to switch with mine for a day. Amen."

God, in His infinite wisdom, granted the man's wish. The next morning, sure enough, the man awoke as a wife and she as him.

He arose, cooked breakfast for his mate, awakened the kids, fed them breakfast, taught them English and Math, put them all in the car and picked up the dry cleaning, took it to the cleaners and stopped at the bank to make a deposit, went grocery shopping, then drove home to put away the groceries, pay the bills and balance the check book.

He cleaned the cat's litter box and bathed the dog. Then it was already 1:00 p.m. and he hurried to make the beds, do the laundry, vacuum, dust, and sweep and mop the kitchen floor. Taught the kids Science and Social Studies.

At 3:30 p.m. he dropped one child off at a scout meeting, another at soccer practice and the third at piano lessons, then went home and set up the ironing board and watched TV while he did the ironing.

At 6:30 p.m. he began peeling potatoes and washing vegetables for salad, breaded the pork chops and snapped fresh beans for supper. After supper he cleaned the kitchen, ran the dishwasher, folded laundry, bathed the kids, and put them to bed.

At 9:00 p.m. he was exhausted and, though his daily chores weren't finished, he went to bed where he was expected to make love, which he managed to get through without complaint.

The next morning he awoke and immediately knelt by the bed and said, "Lord, I don't know what I was thinking. I was so wrong to envy my wife's being able to stay home all day. Please, oh please, let us trade back."

The Lord, in His infinite wisdom, replied, "My son, I feel you have learned your lesson and I will be happy to change things back to the way they were. You'll just have to wait nine months, though...You got pregnant last night."

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Before World War II, it was unusual to find a mom working.  A mother's place was in the home, taking care of their children.  There were some exceptions, if the father was absent, or had died.  But these were few and far between.  During World War II, women went to work while their husbands went off to war.  After the soldiers came home from the war, some women went back to their homes to care for their families, and some women decided they liked working, and kept right on doing their jobs.

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Over the years the cost of living has increased so that in order to make ends meet, more and more women had to enter the work force.  These days it is unusual to see a mother staying home to take care of her children, they are the ones who are looked at as being odd.

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Still some of these families need 2 incomes to maintain a household.  Some women have been able to perform their work duties at home as well as take care of their children.  This makes for a very hard and stressful day for the mother and employee.  She has to learn how to juggle her time and energy between work and children.

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Today is Work at Home Mom's Week.  http://workathomemoms.about.com/ has some tips and ideas about how to balance both of these and still keep your sanity.  If you know of a work at home mom, give them a call and offer to babysit for a few hours, or take them dinner.  I know it will make their day, and will also make you feel good for helping someone else.