A Mother's Work

Our society is obsessed with the idea of being productive.  Everywhere you are told how to "make the most of your time" by multitasking so that you can be a better worker.  In the job world (the one outside my door that I no longer belong to) workers are expected to produce results.  In a manufacturing job, your job performance is based on if you reached production.  In a sales job, your job performance is based on how much you have sold.  In a service job, your job performance is based on how many people you "served" that day successfully.  Even in a teaching job, your job performance is based on your students mastering a set of objectives by the end of the year based on your teaching.  Everyone has some "production" standard that has to be met.

I'm not afraid to rock the pink swing!

 

But what I have found now that I am at home is that my production is the unseen kind. I can do mountains of laundry and there is still dirty laundry at the end of the day.  I can fix three meals a day and clean the kitchen each time but everyone is still hungry the next morning.  I can bathe all the children and they will get dirty and need a bath the next day (sometimes the same day).  I can pick up all the toys and they are in the floor again before bedtime.  I can mop the floor in the morning and it's sticky by suppertime.  I can fill the fridge and pantry with a shopping trip and they are empty by the end of the week.  I can carefully shop for clothing for the children but they quickly outgrow them.  I can sweep the porch and the wind blows the leaves back to the door.  I can teach the toddler how to put on her shoes and still have to teach it again tomorrow.  I can correct my children's behavior now and again in fifteen minutes (and two dozen more times before lunch). I can make my husband's coffee and pack his lunch but I will need to do it again tomorrow. I can work and work but this work will need to be done again and again.

Gracie giving Daddee the stare

The work I do for my family is only seen when they put on their clean clothing, sleep on their clean sheets, and when they always find a snack when they are hungry.  The work I do is seen when we never run out of milk or formula or clean underwear or diapers.  The work I do is seen when the bills are paid, the appointments are kept, and the shoes fit.  The work I do is seen in the child that has good manners and the child that is kind to others.  The work I do is seen in a husband that looks forward to coming home to spend time with his family.

Our big girl in her tire swing

My work these days is not considered  productive by the world's standard.  There is no product to produce or client to make happy.  There are no objectives to meet by a deadline or sales quotas to reach.  There are only people to serve and a home that needs serviced to meet the needs of those people.  A mother's work is never done and can only be measured by the happiness that is found among the people in her home.