To think that actually, it is NOT boring being a SAHM/housewife!

[LEMAGAIN]

...........i have to go out, discuss

A pile of rotting rubbish.

My house is a midden, but it would still be a midden if I was SAHM because I hate housework.

awwwww - i'm touched!

on another thread one poster compared children of working mothers with childrne who had been neglectde or abused. People don;t generally hold back about decribing accoutants as boring.

You need to grow a thicker skin and not care what anyone else says.

LEMAGAIN it means a tip/mess/pit etc.. Sorry that just got typed naturally I should remember to translate!

Talking of things people say, I hate the 'oh my brain cells would die' and such crap...these mum's have obviously never mumsnetted

Maybe some of mine have died meant mums

kewcumber - im not bothered really, just thought i would start a new and original discussion on Mnet as obviously, we never really talk about the SAHM/WOHM thing on here

i really love being a sahm, but my dd is my first and shes what i would call a pretty easy going toddler.
very happy and fun.
eats well sleeps well that sort of thing so i don't really feel tired or stressed.

i think it depends on so many things.
income, where you live, friends/family, adult company youhave, childs temperment, what things you enjoy.

we are lucky we have no money worries, me and dd are free spirits really.
we can do anywhere and do anything really.

i'm lucky in that you can take her out for meals etc and shes really good.

today we have been swimming, tomorrow we are going to the childrens center/toy library.
monday we are having a day out at a farm fun park wed we are going oon an easter egg hunt.

at the weekend we are visiting family aand i would like to go clothes shopping.

i have about 4 friends locally, who iwas friends with before becoming a mother who either sahm or work PT three grandparents that are retired and 2 great grandparents who are all around
so i am not stuck for adult conversations etc.
i find with the friends i had before dd our conversations are varied we spend more time talking about holidays etc then babystuff
very happy marraige and home life with dh.

i relly love doing arts and crafts, and cooking etc so i really enjoy these with dd, and in the summer getting the paddling pool and sand pit out.
i feel totally happy.

b

I hate the term HOUSEWIFE. It's so 1950's!
My Nan used to say "only boring people get bored". Being a SAHM is as boring as you make it, I loved it. I didn't go mad doing housework and cleaning, but loved the freedom of not watching the clock and spending quality time with my dc. I think I only started to find it a bit dull when ds1 started school as ds2 is a very self contained little boy and didn't need as much entertaining as ds1 did, so I used to feel a bit surplus to requirements

but i don't really do much house work as dd doesn't give me much chance, so we just do it when dd's in bed at night, only really takes about an hour a week with both of us pulling together to do it.
(me and dh)

No worries LEM

in fact don't know who I am to be telling you to grow a thicker skin, I felt very skin skinned myself when the analogy of negelcted and abused children with those who mothers were WOHM was used.

I've got one in reception a 15month old and am pregnant with dc3 and yes sometimes i get bored.

But i was a project manager pre-children and sometimes that was boring.

Isn't it like everything there are good days and bad days. I prefer being home with my children in the pre-school years - thats what works for our family.

However once they're all at school i will hopefully go back to work.

dear god i would love to have time to be bored. today i have made flapjack, done three loads of washing, made a photo mural to cover up the snot trails and drawings on dd1s wall, sorted out all dd2s too small clothes and entertained dd2 at the same time.

i am currently pausing for breath, lunch and mn...

and will now read the thread and realise there is a deep and meaningful going on and have put my hoofs in it big time...

It's a statement that can never have a true answer because it depends on what kind of person you are.

Whilst one parent finds it great and loves taking their kids to different groups/activities and enjoys being around the home, another parent finds that really boring. It doesn't mean either parent loves their kids any more or less niether does it make either of them a better/worse parent. It's just that they are two different people with different likes and dislikes.

I need to be away from my kids some of the time in order to be a better parent to them. I can come back to them refreshed and play with them better because i have had mind stimulation else where. If i was with them all the time, i would get bored and they would suffer because i wouldn't be 100% focused on them.

Either way is fine, i don't get the argument that one way makes you a better parent. It's what you are happy with that makes the difference.

i have to say that i do cringe that "housewife" is my occupation on my wedding certificate...

I have 3 dc and vowed that once the youngest was at school I would have a year off sitting on my backside drinking coffee, going to the gym, shopping etc, before even considering going back to work, because I deserved it as accrued leave after being a sahm working 24/7 for 6 years.

Youngest is now 2 and I am desperately looking for work. I've done it all now. I've painted, playdoughed, playgrouped, sung songs at the library and in a million church halls, I've been to farms, museums, playgrounds. I've baked fairy cakes til I can't stand the sight of them.

I've cleaned up sick, wee, poo, mud, leaves, sticks (who do small boys need collections of sticks???).

Occasionally I've been known to hoover. I spend half my life in the utility room. I could go on.

But, I'm bored. I'm bored of being a housewife. I'm bored of doing the baby thing. I'm bored of making conversation with people when the only thing I have in common with them is that we have children the same age.

And because I'm bored, I'm not doing my sahm job very well either - I spend too much time on mn, and not enough rustling up delicious suppers, sewing costumes for shows. And my house is a midden.

It was great while it lasted.....

Am SAHM
DC are 8 and 5

I don`t have chance to get bored
If only.....

I think it is different if there is a general forum debate from people saying things to OP in real life.

It is not as if Lem said to the woman, 'so, what do you think of my life choices? Care to comment?'

The woman was rude, either by accident, or because she has an issue with LEM, or with her own choices or partner.

I have been caused a disgrace to feminism in RL, when I only worked part time, and by another person I was called a sheep for going to work because society wanted me to.

In both cases, I just thought that it was their issue, not mine.

I do generally enjoy myself, and don't find it boring. BUT I do feel boring when I see a friend and they ask what I've been up to and I can't think of anything (er, changed nappies, cooked meals, fed kids, gone to toddlers/the park/the beach, done laundry, housework, played with duplo...).

Or when they talk about something that's been in the news and I haven't yet managed to read further than the first paragraph.

But you can have lots to do and still be bored. You can quite easily fill a day with housework, shopping, coffee with chums etc. but that doesn't mean it's not boring.

Tch, it would bore me to death (though I am mostly at home/working from home). But people like different things. The problem with the SAHM thing is that it is peddled so hard at women as though having a fanjo means you have a 'natural' affinity with dusters, fingerpaint and pastry. I am always suspicious of men who go on about the wonderfulness of SAHMs as what they mean is 'Keep believing you're special and keep doing all the shitwork for no money'.

jeanpoole - are you a stepford wife ????

is anyones life really that perfect ???

or am i just jealous, i have a DD3 at home - the kindest word we use for her is willful, it sums her up well. Everything is a problem to her sigh........

I am a sort of SAHM (freelance copywriter so ds at nursery 3 mornings a week). Like any other worthwhile endeavour there are sometimes difficult and boring bits.

I gave up a 3 day a week marketing job because everything was so rushed and I just wasn't happy. I also hated my ds being in nursery from 7.30am to gone 6pm, it just felt like too long a day. Plus I was spending so much on childcare and communting it just didn't seem worth it - usual story.

I am so much happier now and more relaxed.

Love the word Communting - it really sums it up doesn't it .

I'm a sort of SAHM at the moment: on a year's ML.

I joke that looking after a baby full time is like trench warfare: long periods of boredom, punctuated by moments of terror.

I jest, of course, but what I mean is, not a lot happens, and then BIG THINGS can suddenly occur (even if that big thing is a refusal to take a nap, hence the whole day going pear-shaped, etc.).

I don't get bored, actually, as such: I've always been reasonably good at occupying myself, and I try to get out and do stuff each day.

However, I know in my heart of hearts, that I could get bored if I had to do this til DD goes to school: I do find that my world has "shrunk" since I was at work - I really love my job (lecturing), and so I am looking forward to going back, even though I know I will miss DD desperately. I'm lucky though, in that I should be able to squeeze my office hours into 3 days, and work in the evenings when she's in bed, so I won't be away from her too much.