Stay-at-home mom's work worth $138,095

Stay-at-home mom's work worth $138,095

www.msnbc.msn.com

If the typical stay-at-home mother in the United States were paid for her work as housekeeper, cook and psychologist among other roles, she would would earn $138,095 a year, according to research released Wednesday.

This reflected a 3 percent raise from last year's $134,121, according to Salary.com Inc , Waltham, Massachusetts-based compensation experts.

The 10 jobs listed as comprising a mother's work were housekeeper, cook, day care center teacher, laundry machine operator, van driver, facilities manager, janitor, computer operator, chief executive officer and psychologist, it said.

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My wife is a stay at home mom. I don't know how she does it. I really don't. I absolutely agree that she's worth every penny of 138 grand.
I love my son more than anything in the universe, and I treasure every single second I get to spend with him, but I don't know how she does what she does. When I get home from work she is fried, and I take over the duties. Stay at home mom is not an easy thing at all.

www.msnbc.msn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Yeah well I been a stay at home mom now for 16 years.

3 kids.

So where's all my $$$$$

Lombozo can you come give my ex a big lecture on this subject? He used to tell me it's "not his fault that my work isn't worth anything, it's what society thinks." Then I left him.

I want my $$$ too. Where is it and who's paying?

Originally posted by Shar
Yeah well I been a stay at home mom now for 16 years.

3 kids.

So where's all my $$$$$

Rent, utility costs, food, home maintenance expenditure, hire car and chauffeur, tax, social security, occupational pension, health care less allowance for exceptional job security benefits....

Careful, you may end up owing some back if we start down that calculation.

(Have we got an emoticon for, "quite an important but often overlooked factor which is in no way aimed at Shar in particular?)

Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
Lombozo can you come give my ex a big lecture on this subject? He used to tell me it's "not his fault that my work isn't worth anything, it's what society thinks." Then I left him.

I want my $$$ too. Where is it and who's paying?

I'll be happy to give a lecture on the subject to your ex! Like I said, my wife is with him basically 24/7. He is a special needs child which raises the bar even more. She manages to take care of the house, the dog and him without missing a beat. She takes out her frustrations on me CONSTANTLY, but I let her because I understand just how difficult her tasks are.
I take my hat off to all of the stay at home moms!

The affect of family stability and hands-on raising of children will have on society as a whole is impossible to measure. It seems like everyone I know comes from a divorced home and every woman I know for one reason or another sees being a stay at home mother as insulting and somehow degrading.

So I say fine, Ill stay at home you go on with your career. What do I get? A flat and loud no. Of course there's never a coherent reason for their objection. Im lucky to be with a girl now who has very traditional values and wishes to be a stay at home mother.

I wont raise latch-key kids or daycare kids and I currently working out ways to make private school or homeschooling an option. Either me or her one of us is raising our kids.

Who's fault is it that the role of the mother has been reduced to such a level in pop-culture and why are so many people buying into it?

Im sure theres a correlation between the collapse of the family unit and delequency across all socio-economic and racial divides.

The stay ot home mother is quite possible the single most important person on this Earth at any given time.

Rent, utility costs, food, home maintenance expenditure, hire car and chauffeur, tax, social security, occupational pension, health care less allowance for exceptional job security benefits....

Don't know how I'll end up paying any of it back. As I recall I have paid any and all rent, utility, food, home maintenace, social security, health care, baseball fees, gym fee, cheerleading fees, dance fees, I could go on and on.

Well said thisguyrighthere!
I absolutely agree with everything you just said.
Nicely said my friend.

Thisguyrighthere,
The stay ot home mother is quite possible the single most important person on this Earth at any given time

Yeah, I felt that way as well. My husband and I decided before our child was born, I would stay at home with them.

It made both sides of our families mad. They thought I should go to work and put my kids in daycare. I couldn’t believe the non-support we got from our families. Heck, they got mad because I choose to breast feed my kids instead of formula fed.

Weird, that is what they are. I stand by my decision to this very day. I even home school my kids. Though that’s only because we travel. However, I did everything our parents got pissed at. Being young and 23 years old when I had my first kid, I just couldn’t understand their attitude. I still don’t to this day, I don’t understand why they wanted me to give my kids to a complete stranger to raise him instead of me. I thought they were crazy.

I tell you what were a very close family.

Very well said Shar- I 100% agree with you. My 8 kids have never been in day care. I have been a stay at home mom for 20 years and breast fed each one. You didn't need to know that but I'm telling you anyway. I homeschool my brood as well. The Canadian government sees to it that families get a monthly allowance. With 8 kids I get a fair bit each month- enough to pay all our expenses and my husbands income is for savings. By the way I am not refering to welfare, this is called the Child tax benefit. Everyone with children qualifies depending on their income. So I don't figure I am owed any of that extra thousands of dollars, but it would be nice.

Hey AD.
8 children - Wow! You deserve a medal! We just have the one and it's a handful and a half.
Hat's off to you.

Let me weigh in as the stay-at-home dad, here.

Not that the issue is about gender, but I would like to offer this to anyone who reads these posts that if you are married and you are going to have children, do not rule out the possibility of staying home to care for them IF YOU ARE THE DAD.

Don't let anyone tell you that women are better nuturers than men. Yes, they can do certain biological functions that men can't, but the love and support men can give is just as important, especially when parents work together to care for their kids as a team.

Nuff said. Yeah, we have no doubt enabled ourselves to live where we live, own what we own because we haven't had to pay daycare and I have been using my skills (whatever level of parenting skill I may have) to save on groceries, clean the house, drive the kids around, etc.

C'mon guys. Let this equality thing mean something.

My wife is a stay at home mom, and I personally feel there's no way anyone could put a price on what she does. $138K isn't a drop in the bucket. And we share 5 children between the two of us, to boot. She's priceless.

Both of us are from divorces, of which I've got 3 boys, and she has 2 girls. Of course she would also add in right about here, that she's got 4 boys... including me.

From sun up to sun down, she's on the go....

Dishes, laundry, cleaning house, preparing meals, getting kids ready for school, taking kids to and fro, making sure that I'm ready for work on time (I procrastinate badly), paying bills (I just told you I procrastinate badly), packing lunches, getting groceries, taking care of the dog....

Kissing owies, rubbing little legs that hurt in the middle of the night, making sure that blankets are tucked in snug around our little bugs, checking for and chasing out monsters in closets, reading bedtime stories, pasting the toothbrushes, making certain that hairdos look just right....

And I haven't even touched on the really important things she does, yet...

Teaching respect, teaching to be kind, teaching to care, teaching to listen, teaching to be thoughtful, teaching to love, teaching to be concerned, teaching to be accountable, teaching to be responsible, teaching to have manners...

Showing the family they are wanted, needed, appreciated, cared for, loved, missed....


Sounds like the perfect wife/mom, huh?


That's because to me... she is. And our 5 children would agree, as well. How can you put a price on that?

Great thread!!

Ive been a stay at home mom of 3 for 9 almost 10 years now. It is the toughest, yet most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life. I do feel for those women and men who dont get the support from their spouces that they need though. That is more stress than any person needs.

Let's do the math, er, um, sociology on this. Look back when most were raised by a stay at home parent, what was society like then? Now look at the way things are with both parents having to work, if there IS both in the home. Seems like the price tag is pretty high imo.

There aren't many stay at home mom's who aren't worth more than that dollar amount. My mom was worth at least $350,000 a year maybe more. She did run the cub scout troop I was a part of.

Kudos to stay at home Moms. I wish I could have been one but that wasn't possible since I'm a single Mom and welfare just isn't an option. I think I've done a good job with her. She's off at college now with a academic scholarship. Still, it would have been wonderful to have been able to stay home. Good for you that have been able to do so. I'm frankly, jealous. The term working mom has always made me laugh, heck we're all working Moms. You can't be a Mom and not work hard but the rewards are so worth it. Happy Mother's Day to all of us.

I know most stay at home moms do everything that is suppposed to add up to that amount. However, when I was married, my ex was a stay at home mom that thought since she stayed home all the time and raised our son that she didn't have to do any other chores like laundry, dishes, etc. I'm not saying I didn't help out, plus I did my fair share of helping raise my son, but when I get home from work I'm ready to sit back and relax.


Bottom line: Most stay at home moms are underappreciated, but so are the guys that try to support their family on one income.

Lombozo, Infoholic, why can't I meet any men like you? Every guy I've ever been with has been a loser who doesn't appreciate me for anything. And my recent ex barely qualifies as human. If I was religious I'd say he was possessed by Beelzebub, he is such a liar and a horrible life partner.

I'm so jealous of your wives. They are lucky to have you, too. Not a lot of guys appreciate their women like this. Especially not so openly.

Hats off to you gents.