☕️ A Manic Mom Thought: “What does your mom do all day?”
Some of us know exactly what I mean when I say,
“It’s one thing to wonder what I do all day. It’s another thing to ask my children as though you’re investigating me.” 😏
Every now and then, one of my kids comes home having been asked a curious little question:
“So… what does your mom do all day?”
Apparently, it’s one of life’s great mysteries.
So let’s see if I can answer the question without sounding too aggressive or defensive. 🙃
Because somehow the clean clothes are just… there.
The dishes disappeared.
The house got cleaned by magical fairies.
The groceries simply appear.
The kids were fed.
The after school snacks are just there.
Dinner happened on time and dessert just fell from the sky.
They are all dressed, entertained, comforted, in school each day, saying grace before dinner – even when I am not there to remind them, hugged at least a dozen times each, redirected, and probably told to put something back where they found it or don’t touch that 27 times.
The appointments got remembered. So they all are happy and healthy.
But yes, the basket of clothes you saw?
It is dirty laundry. The laundry multiplied, as laundry does. ⁉️
Yep that’s a silver cap – because kids get cavities, just like you.
Uh huh, the kids have chores.
They’re learning responsibility, not auditioning for a cleaning service. 🧹
And somewhere in there, I probably lost the same cup of coffee at least three times today. ☕
And before we ask about the outside of the house,
the yard and the trash, let me remind you I have a husband. 😆
He handles the outside.
The things outside of these four walls that need to be maintained, fixed, hauled, trimmed and generally wrestled into submission.
Don’t judge a stay-at-home mom by whether the working dad has the whole property looking like a five-star resort after working in the Florida sun all day.
Especially when he’s never too tired to take your calls and come help you or his friends.
Sometimes the grass needs cutting and the trash cans sit longer than we’d like.
Sometimes real life looks… well, lived in.
We’re a team.
I keep the inside moving.
He keeps the outside moving.
And together we are raising four kids in the Florida heat, in a home that is supposed to be lived in, not photographed for a magazine.
Well… unless it’s for Manic Mom Diaries. 😂
But around here we understand that chaos doesn’t equal laziness.
I guess for some, none of it looks like “doing anything” because mom is now sitting with her Kindle and enjoying her frozen coffee.
The funny thing about taking care of a home is that so much of the work becomes invisible the moment it’s finished.
Nobody notices the empty laundry basket.
They notice when it’s overflowing.
Nobody thinks about the groceries when there’s food in the refrigerator.
They notice when the milk is gone.
Nobody knows how many meals we plan, cook and clean up after.
They only see the pizza delivery guy, again.
Nobody notices the clean kid before school.
They only notice the sweaty dirty kid who’s been outside being a kid. 🚸
Nobody wonders who remembered the permission slip, scheduled the appointment, replaced the toothpaste, bought the birthday present – for every single party they were invited to, or knew we were down to the last roll of toilet paper.
It all just… happens.
Except it doesn’t.
A home doesn’t run itself.
A family doesn’t run itself.
And all those little things that look ordinary, sound simple and seem automatic when you’re on the outside looking in.
They’re not.
Maybe that’s the funny thing about being a stay-at-home mom.
When we’re doing our job well, it can look like nothing happened at all.
Because everything just… works.
So if you’re ever wondering what a stay-at-home mom does all day…
You know, just out of curiosity. 🙃
You don’t have to ask her kids.
Ask her.
Although you might want to grab a cup of coffee first.
The list is pretty long – just like her day. ☕️🙃
Until next time…
Keep building a beautiful life between coffee & chaos,
💛 Tiffany
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