Do you think being a mothers is the hardest job in the world?

[brasty]

Do you think being a mother is the hardest job in the world?

It is not a job.

"is yellow nicer than a square?" obviously yes.

But there are very few jobs with greater responsibility. And there are very few jobs that require you to be "on call" 24/7, 365 days a year or where you will be required to put in a full day's work after being up all night working. And there's the constant worry. Which is why you just can't compare it to a job.

My job has all those things, and I can think of plenty of others that do as well.

Parenting is a welcome break and distraction to be honest

Yeah additional needs and history of trauma here so it's hard hard hard. And before the bond came it really did feel like an endless nightmare babysitting job. But now the bond is there it's still hard. Sometimes it feels like we need an admin assistant to deal with all the appointments etc and a management consultant to advise how to streamline and be more effective and someone more senior to make tough decisions and tell us how to do it better. I get all this in my actual job. Other kids are teens and that's quite hard too. But I still love it. We can love a job even when it's hard can't we?

I suspect caring for elderly parents is harder than looking after NT children.

I find the responses 'No, it is not a job' rather trite.

To me the saying doesn't literally intend to mean its a 'job', (why get bogged down in semantics?) but rather, that it is the hardest task in the world.

I happen to agree with that sentiment - it has to be one of the most challenging things to get right; if you are going to do it properly (with due regard to raising a happy, well adjusted person). Obviously if you don't set the bar very high then its not difficult

Not a job.

I don"t get 5 weeks fully paid annual leave from being a parent.

Well it is v hard work. Physically at first and then emotionally.

That will probably do for an answer wouldnt it? It doesn't have to be harder than anything to be really hard and worthy of recognition.

I know there have been several disclaimers about additional needs kids but as the mother of an 11 year anxious ASD kid this is harder than any job I have ever done or could ever do. As my child can't attend school at the moment due to anxiety it is a 24/ 7 job of negotiation and attending to struggles.

So IMO it definitely can be.

That being said I love my child quirks and all and I would not swap this for anything in the world.

having children is a lifestyle choice in a relationship
err no it's not. Or at least for most people it isn't.

having a child is a biological consequence of having sex, and necessary for the very existence of our species.

Dress it up however you want for you as an individual (lifestyle choice if you must etc) but having a child is pretty much biology in action. For most women in the world lifestyle has fuck all to do with it.

Its about sex.
Its about biological necessity.
Its about legal obligations (re looking after children and not neglecting them or abusing them).
Its about societies expectations.
Its about love, and humanity.

Lifestyle choice - not so much. Certainty being a Mum impacts my lifestyle, but it was never in any way a "lifestyle choice".

I think heart surgeon isn't the easiest job in the world, being a parent is hard but it is not a job but as a pp said a life choice

Agree it's one of the hardest tasks in the world.

I'm not cut out for it really. Yes, there are those moments when you just love them so much you could pop, but if it were a job I would get holidays and weekends off, plus I'd have the option to change my mind and quit!

It's definitely hard at times but I choose to be a stay at home mum over going to work full time. My 'job' is much more enjoyable for me.

No, definitely not! There are LOTS of jobs that are more difficult than being a mum!

No but I don't find my 8 year old very easy atm

It's the worst paid and it's relentless. It's also the most important.

When children are young it probably is one of the hardest jobs in the world.

I think it is tbh. That dosnt mean that i dont love my dd as i do and i wouldnt swap it for the world but it is very hard work. Rewarding though.
I think being a working single mum is tough. .

Depends on how you parent. Some people to sweet FA for their children therefore, probably find it an easy job. I don't find the "job" as a parent hard but I do find it mentally draining at times. The tired feeling I get from being a mother is different to how I used to feel when I was child free. I can't really explain it but I think it is because there is no real switch off when you're a parent.

No it's not the hardest job, but it must be the most exasperating one.

Being a parent changes so much over time. My DC are in primary school now and it's a breeze! (Fully aware that the teenage years are yet to come!).

But when I was a SAHM to pre-schoolers it was sometimes (not always) harder than doing my actual job pre-DC. And I have quite a stressful job.

Clearly a lot of people who have never had hard jobs on this thread! jobs exist well beyond the scope of butcher, baker and candlestick maker and many of them are relentlessly tiring, incredibly stressful, very mentally and/or physically challenging and where small mistake can have huge repercussions, either immediately or long term on things like people's lives, huge projects or vast amounts of money.

Bringing up a rounded child and feeding them, nurturing them, teaching them about commitment and fun, really isn't a challenge compared to what an awful lot of people do on a daily basis (then come home and do the parenting thing on top)

No, its not the hardest job/task in the world, but it is possibly one of the most/more rewarding 'jobs'. Whilst on parental leave, I'm loving the increased amount of control I have in my life, the way I can stop and have a conversation with a neighbour without dashing to check my emails, the absence of the 'yuck' feeling in my stomach when my alarm goes off, no commute, no annoying new initiatives, being able to put my family first. I do get tired and the lack of adult contact can be a challenge, but it's not as hard as my usual job by any means.

I'm a doctor and a mum. I've had to do and see some horrific things as part of my day job. I deal with trauma, people dying in front of me, and knowing that if I make the wrong decisions, there are life and death consequences.

Saying that, I found the first 6m of my DD1's life so hard, there were times I would have gladly gone and done a 13hr night shift at work than be at home with a screaming, non-sleeping refluxy baby.

Depends on the job.
Depends on the child.

Oh yeah it is relentless and its not something you retire from even when they are grown you are still worrying about them

No

It's relentless and it's a huge responsibility to get it right, but no, it's not the hardest.

It's not a job.

A job would have a salary, wouldn't it?