What happens when a stay at home mom’s kids are all in school? What do those moms do during the day?
Before kids are old enough for school they needed constant care. There was rarely a free moment. Trips to the grocery store were arduous and long. Errands were planned around nap time and feeding schedules. I was that mom. I have always been a stay at home mom. Granted I did have a few work from home gigs, but the majority of my life as a mom I haven’t had to work outside the home.
When both my boys were in full day school I decided to go back to school as well. I was able to finish my Master’s Degree and substitute teach. I took on a little more work. I took a year off to deal with breast cancer and the subsequent treatments. Then I found myself with a fourth grader and a seventh grader and a lot of free time. We recently moved, so setting up a house took time and sooner or later I’ll have a full-time job, but currently I sub and do a bit of writing.
Some days I don’t take a sub job, I don’t work, I simply do what needs to be done around the house. I feel like it never ends. Seriously, I don’t know how I got it all done when I had little kids. When the kids leave I grocery shop, clean house, exercise, volunteer at the kids’ school, and do all the things that go with running a house. On the rare days that I don’t have things to do I’ll read or have lunch with the husband. However, free time is rare and it seems like there is always something that needs to be done.
I’m not asking anyone to justify how they spend their time while the kids are at school. However, I have heard more than a few moms discussing life with kids in school. One mom said she was excited to go back to work. Another mom just wanted to go to the store, alone. One mom said she felt pressure to work because what else would she do all day?
Stay at home moms, like all moms, are always on call. Maybe the free time should be seen as our time off. We don’t always have the time to do what we love or pick up a new hobby, but this is our time. Hopefully, if you are able to be a stay at home mom and your kids are in school all day, you have free time. I hope you bask in the quiet and maybe even go so far as to relish the fact that you can go to the bathroom alone and even leave the door open if you want.
That’s my story and I’d love to hear yours. If you no longer have kids at home and you don’t work outside the home, how do you spend the time your kids are at school?
