SAHM's...do you have 'job satisfaction'?

[DetentionGrrrl]

I'm curious as to whether SAHM's enjoy their work, and get a thrill out of completing tasks etc.

DP said i was a very good wifey the other day because i'd made him lunch for work and ironed some shirts for him. I had a little warm feeling...then thought dear god, where's my feminist feeling gone?!

I don't get as much satisfaction from putting the dishwasher on as i did say, training new staff in my 'proper' job, but sometimes, i think it's not so bad being a wifey instead.

i get a sick sense of satisfaction when my washing smells of comfort I think the smell reminds me of being a kid.

i actually do too infact i use far too much of the blardy stuff!

It helps ameliorate the 'Housewife'sense of inferiority if you consider yourself as

"Team [insert family name here]".

Took a while for me to realise that I contribute as much as the 'breadwinner'. Infact probably more in real economic terms if you add up the 'salaries' of all the jobs a SAHM does.

Again ... I think we should commend the decisions that a woman makes. Above all she will be putting the entire needs of the family first -- be that working in the home or working out of the home.

Sooner we amend our nomenclature to be inclusive and supportive the better.

i found it hard at first, that i had to ask for money because i wasn't earning any from work (i'm on extended maternity) but i've come round now. I cook, sometimes i clean , i makes DP's lunch for work and iron his shirts, i get up with DS at night, i feed and change him and put him down for naps, i read to him, play with him, and try not to strangle him if i'm tired and he's being a bugger, i wash the clothes, load the dishwasher, feed the dog, do the gardening...plus do an Open Uni course.

It is a job, and mostly i love it. But i feel the need to go back to work for a little while, on reduced hours.

And in about 7 mths i'll be back on maternity leave and i'm taking a whole year off to be with my babies. Then i'll go back to work a couple of days a week until the oldest is in school, then full time again.

I know what you mean Dgrrrrrl ... when first preg and not working after 10 years of being the breadwinner, I suddenly felt like I couldn't even replace my moisturiser without checking that would be ok with DH.

Interestingly he NEVER put that pressure on me and didn't see things in that way at all. It was all in my head.

I felt that I didn't have equal footing in decision-making too. Totally weird for I have a fantastic dh who just would never impose that kind of relationship boundary.

Think it was mostly pregnancy hormones ... bu still ocasionally I have to remind myself that this is a partnership ...

Hard tho when SAH parenting is too often viewed as secondary.

Personally I love being a SAHM and wouldn't have it any other way. I very much consider myself a "full-time mother" rather than a housewife. House can be a mess, although the basics (dishwasher, laundry etc) get done, but the main thing is that I am spending quality time with my 2 DDs that I will never have the chance to have again.

i was just about to write the same as colander,
there a peom about it cant remember it but basicly it say the dust and dirt can keep but im rocking my baby and babies don't keep

Hardest work I've ever done, but most rewarding = motherhood.

Aside, of course, from the fact that dh fails to value any of my time spent at home and simply cannot understand my insistence that I cannot possibly go back to work full time. He also seems completely incapable of even putting his own stuff in the dishwasher, let alone help with houswork in general.

Nope I don't, but then I am rarely satisfied with anything. It's a character flaw of mine

I have had this thread in my head today as I have been sahm-ing.

It has made me realise a few more things that 'satisfy me'...

like having the time to do things like recycling and being dedicated to making improvements on our enviromental-ism!

I'm sure I would be recycling if I worked but it would take up a lot of precious time, but sah means I can get the kids involved in composting, recycling, nappy laundering etc. and that is satisfying.

If I were to see myself a few years ago, keeping chickens, washing nappies, growing veg and being a sahm, I would never have believed it. My life was a bit of a party and I was focused on my career.

but circumstance has given me the opportunity to try it out and I am so glad I did.

It mkes me wonder if it would ever have occured to me to be a sahm, had I not been provided the opportunity (temporary financial security)

I feel there is so much emphasis on women getting back to work after having kids, and it's about time someone started selling the sahm option. (namely the government!)

Now knowing how important it is to us I would do anything to make it possible if I had to.

waffle waffle!

I am a sahm and have been for 3 years now but cannot understand how anyone could get any sort of satisfaction out of it. granted, I would rather be home with the children than pay someone else to do it, and I've never been particularly career minded anyway, but doesn't anyone else find it boring, frustrating, isolating, depressing and basically bloody annoying spending 14-16 hours a day witn small children, even if they are yours? I love them to bits and wouldn't have it any other way, but still feel I am sacrificing my own life in the process.

Bad day jumble?

Yes to a degree I am with you jumble - although I don't want to be a WOHM.

Perhaps she is being refreshing honest?

I get more satisfaction being a SAHM than I ever got in any job I had.

That said I concentrate more on the looking after dts. The only housework I take pride in (apart from keeping a clean and safe house but don't mention tidy) is cooking good food for my family.

I only feel relief when I finish my daily housework and see it as something that needs to be done rather than something I can be proud of doing. Still, I like to do a job well, I've been sick the past couple of weeks and seeing things pile up and not get done is making me insane.

I don't think we should be ashamed of it. After all was feminism not about choice, and I chose to do this. People pay good money to have their dcs loooked after and cared for, I do it myself.

Lockets, I want your number! Lost my mobile!

2boysmacca - YES! Bloody bad day! sorry sounded a bit sour, but ready for bed now, DH still at work, dd's up at 7am to the minute with me as the only conscious adult and DH up at least an hour later, wandering around complaining how tired he is coz of all the extra hours he's working. Wish it was easier to make other people regard full time motherhood as a JOB instead of a leisurely pastime.

nope because i don't view being a SAHM as job, its great being able to be at home with dd and yes sometimes i can get fed up and crave adult company but on the whole its great, now ask me if I get job satisfaction out of housework well i would say yes

Jumble, had the beginnings of a day like that today. Ds woke up at 5.30, was sent back to bed in disgrace at 6.30 and for the next hour had a screaming toddler banging doors and screaming the house down (times like this I am sure neighbours are pleased we are their neighbours). Dh walks out the door approximately 5 mins into tantrum and returns 13.5 hours later wondering why dw is so fecked off.

Agree with Lockets RE being a SAHM is only as satisfying as you make it.
Iguess I've been a SAHM for as long as I've been a mum, but not a housewife! I've always had housework to do, and would have more with a DS whether or not I worked that would still need doing, so don't think it comes into it much. I think my SAHM experiences are slightly unusual though as I had DS while doing a PGCE, he came two months early so I hadn't finished the course (which had been the plan) so altough I wasn't in paid work, I was working and busy. I split up with partner and took DS with me to uni every day, so was too busy ever to be bored and was thankful of the fact that newborns sleep so much as I got to finish my course!

I admit I found it boring too though when DS was older as I missed the adult company, but gradually made mum friends and definately enjoyed watching DS grow and teaching him new stuff every day, going on little adventures etc...

Now DS is nearly 4 he gives me plenty of praise and definately appreciates all I do with him and the time we spend together, but I do also work from home so have things to focus on other than being a mum.

IIt's definately a hard job (motherhood is anyway, whether you work or not) and definately boring sometimes, but ultimately satisfying too ...(especially when you know it is not forever!)

...and agree with 2boysmacca and jumble that when you have a bad day it is really bad, but no matter how much you try to tell others if they don't do it too or odn't have children they just do not understand!! Grrrr

If being a SAHM was a recognised and valued job by the rest of society people might understand more just why it is so difficult: we have demanding, controlling, stubborn bosses who change their minds frequently, like us sometimes and hate us others, throw tantrums, demand things NOW, take no responsibility for their mess, expect us to pull miracles, are unpredictable and expect us to be on call 24 hours a day, and they don't let us have weekends off!!

I think the fact that it is so difficult contributes to the satisfaction for some mums, because we survived another day! and this apples to parents who work too, as they still parent as well!

apples -applies