What is a modern mother at home??
Modern mothers at home are there by choice. We are aware of our potential and the many opportunities that are available to us. Yet we choose to be at home because ultimately we share an innate value of the importance of spending generous amounts of time raising our children. We step off the career ladder into an often unrelated field, and start the very real “work” that comes with home.
Although we may have been raised to believe that our greatest contribution in life would be made out in the “real world”, through “working”, we often discover that being at home and raising our children may well be the most important thing we ever do.
Modern mothers take their role seriously and as a result of this approach it with the passion, committment and vigour that was once put into our careers. We inform ourselves on issues relating to parenting, children and family. We research, investigate and educate ourselves so that we can do the best possible job.
Most of us seek equality in the home which we also once desired in the workplace. We are liberated mothers and are not at home because we think it is a “womans place” but rather feel that “someone has to take care of the children” and after pregnacy, birth and breastfeeding this seems like a natural progression. I think we sometimes end up there by default, but choose to remain there because there just isn’t a reasonable or satisfactory alternative. For some women being at home fulltime raising their family is the realisation of a long held dream, for others the discovery of the true value of the work we are doing only becomes apparent through doing it.
Although childrearing is our primary role we are often involved in many other pursuits. We join community groups; playcentres, playgroups, parent centres, homebirth, activebirth, giving our time voluntarily. This can lead to advocacy, education and lobbying work taking our new found interests further using both old and new skills. Some work casually, parttime or from home and some even fit in study during this busy time.
Most of us struggle with the reality of motherhood and the day to day requirements of the role. There aren’t many role models to watch and learn from, and there certainly is no job description for this position. Sometimes our new job is overwhelming, tiring, lonely or just plain boring. We never expected to find being at home fulltime both so extremely personally challenging and amazingly rewarding. For some the change of focus from career to child rearing is the biggest hurdle to empowerment and satisfaction.
Through motherhood our view of the world changes and we start to ask what really is important in life? This process brings into question our core values and beliefs and we find that as our children grow and change, we cannot help but to do the same.