To think SAHM's have an easier life?

[workingmummy123]

I understand this won't please everyone but I'm referring to SAHMs with school age children. I read lots of articles - one today on Facebook - which talk about how SAHMs "work" at home doing a hundred domestic chores. However I work full time and still have to do the exact same number of domestic chores - I just have less time to do them. Am I missing something??

I found it boring, after 3 months I got another job.

Pretty much everyone in this country has it easier than most people in the world

Depends how hard your job is! Heart surgeon? Yeah sahm to school agers is easier. Admin assistant? Well, probably not. Especially with 2 or more children. Lots to do at home, cooking, admin, gardening, cleaning, all the PTA organisation fundraising stuff. Then school runs and entertaining lots of children, play dates, after school club runs etc etc

What's your point OP? Is there anything wrong with having an easier life?! Does life have to be hard to make it a life worth living?

Just a thought.

And yes I'm a SAHM to a school age child and a toddler. I might remain a SAHM for several more years after the youngest goes to school. I might not. Who knows/cares?

No, I wouldn't think so. But then I have no kids so I think all kids are full-time work!

I love the idea that if I was a SAHM with DCs at school then I would be a 1950s housewife and the house would be immaculate with a beautiful garden etc. In reality I know it wouldn't and I probably would need the 1950s Valium to go with it...so all in all I'm happy to work most days and have a good excuse for us muddling through the housework between us. The house isn't a public health danger but it is far from being gleaming and organised.

Days with toddlers are both tedious and difficult (but also extremely rewarding). I am loaded with the cold and spent the day walking on eggshells with a toddler who also has the cold and was tantrumming on a hairs trigger.

I am actually looking forward to escaping the house by going to work tomorrow...but I feel bad admitting that.

Yep, you're right. All SAHMs of school age children do is lie on the couch and get fed grapes from their pool boy. It's awesome. Sorry your life sucks, OP.

Oh, and I've been on three sides of the fence can a fence have three sides? - working mum, stay at home mum and student mum. Of the three, studying full-time with a newborn was hardest

You can't compare families though, really. We're all so different as people - some women will thrive as SAHMs, others will feel isolated and stressed. Some women will love being working mums, others will want to be at home. Sometimes it's not a choice but all the time it's just people doing the best for their families :)

Strange to assume that all SAHM are doing so by choice. Some have to stay home because they cannot afford to go to work, and I am sure the worry about money is not great either.

Pretty much everyone in this country has it easier than most people in the world

there's always one

Have done both.
Easier to WOH fulltime with a toddler.
Now with a 43 hour week and 1.5 hour commute it would be far easier to SAH with schoolgoing child.

I don't work during the winter but do work during the summer being at work is much easier than being at home with the kids at home its non stop always stuff to be done and never a min with the kids one at school and one at home, in the summer I love the travel time to work and break time and lunch its nice to actually get a break to sit and eat without having to get up several times to attend to the kids. There is soooooo much more to be done when you are at home all day than if you are at work so no its not all the same jobs your not in the house during the day to be messing toys feeding 3 meals and cleaning up after them.

I do wonder how there are enough hours in the day for working mum to do all the chores. Surely if you get home from work at 6, cook dinner and eat it's then 7.30, bath and bed to 8. Do u clean then? So no I don't think Woking parents do the same stuff Sahm parents do. Sorry I just don't buy it. Do these people not sleep?

I don't there's enough money in the world to pay me to be a SAHM to a toddler - really doesn't suit my temperament. But last Tuesday, DP wine to work, and DS to nursery and I had a day of annual leave. And I did some tidying and emptied the dishwasher and put a wash on, and went to the supermarket to get some nice food for dinner. And then I watched some TV and read my book and went on mumsnet, and had a lovely nap, then I got the dinner on and made a complicated and delicious meal from scratch instead of something hurriedly shoved in the oven when DP and I got home from work. It was the best day ever, and exactly what I imagine being a SAHM must be like once the kids are all in school.

I'm biased as I work F/T 😣 and envy those who can stay at home. Instead, I work, do the house (as/when I can) and raise 3 kids. I've got to the point where I couldn't care if there's a pile of ironing that Indiana Jones might struggle with lol

Haven't had a real goady thread in a while
I'm a SAHM to a 20 month old and a 12 week old. I feel like I'm drowning most of the time.
When they are both in school, I'm definitely going to take some time to enjoy the quiet, drink a hot cup of tea, have a shower by myself, have a poo by myself, actually eat breakfast and lunch......the list could go on forever. Having said that, in a way I do miss working because it was an adult environment. It's a very rare occasion where I spend any time with just adults nowadays!

Surely the one thing that WOHMs dont do (during their working hours) is look after their kids? And I am not a SAHM before anyone jumps down my throat. But when my kids were younger there were some days I was glad it wasn't me wrangling them!
I am just referring to the OP saying surely we all do the same jobs. Well i know i do a hell of a lot less childcare as someone else does it when im at work!

I think to argue the opposite would be unreasonable. It seems obvious that SAHMs with children in school would have an easier life than working mothers, or SAHMs with children still at home.

Everyone's lives are so different. I can think of a SAHM, who has 3 school age children, one of whom has high end special needs and they are so short of money because the husband had a heart attack. It looks the most difficult life from the outside. I can think of a working mum with a loving husband and a nanny and a cleaner and quite frankly it doesn't look that hard. She likes her job, does all the nice bits of parenting and has loads of support. Most of us muddle along between the two extremes.

I should add that there's nothing wrong with that. If the woman is happy and they can financially afford to have her stay at home with kids in school, more power to her.

I have the holy grail. A 9-3 local job, well paid and I'm my own boss, no one tells me what to do (well possibly my compliance department). What could be easier than that?

Isla who do you think does the cleaning then? The cleaning fairy?

I'm a working single mum, I have to do all that myself. Certainly can't afford a cleaner to do it. I have a wipe around, hoover and dishes every day after DS is in bed and do a deep clean every Sunday. You HAVE to find time.

I hated being at home, much prefer working.

I do agree though, I have friends who drop off the kids at 9 and have until 3pm EVERY DAY to do the housework, shopping, run errands etc. Must be lovely!