There is a common fallacy about women who choose to be stay-at-home moms (SAHMs, in ‘net lingo). It isn’t about our commitment to our children or husband, it isn’t that we want to be able to provide warm nutritious meals for our families, and it isn’t that we LOVE running errands and driving on field trips. No, it’s that we love to clean. Tell someone that you stay home with your kids, and the first response is a snarky, “Oh, gotta work on that stubborn waxy buildup on the kitchen floor, huh?”

Let me be the first to say, I did not like to clean when I worked, and that feeling has not increased since I’ve been home. You cannot see yourself in my dishes. You cannot eat off my floor. Sometimes, it’s ill-advised to eat off my plates if you’re not sure what stage the dishwasher is in. So, let’s let go of the Donna Reed ideal already, huh?

I stayed home for a lot of reasons. The first of which was that I am essentially too cheap to pay my entire paycheck to a daycare center. The second was that my second son, had he been in a daycare, would have been booted out unceremoniously by the second week. Even at two, he would have been labeled “incorrigible”. I also like the fact that I do not have to rearrange my schedule if someone starts a fever, needs a ride to baseball practice, or wants me to go along on a really cool field trip.

So, while I used to wonder what women did who stayed at home all day, I now know that not all of us use the time to buff and polish the house. Sometimes it’s enough just to buff and polish my kids’ faces before their Dad comes home, you know?