I love my life as a stay at home mom. I don’t think I would change it for the world. But there is one thing that I seem to notice –that a stay at home mom is not viewed as a working mother.

A working mother at least has something tangible she can show for her efforts – a pay stub. She gets dressed in work clothes (whatever is required) to leave the house to go to an actual place of employment. Of course once she gets home at night her job is just beginning, because this mom has not only one full time job but two.

I put in my eight hours at home. But I’m not sitting around on my butt all day eating bon bons like Peg Bundy. I’m doing laundry, working with the kids on colors or shapes or letters, running errands, making three meals AND occasionally trying to throw in a few minutes here and there for myself be it a trip to the gym or, dare I say it, a shower.

Yes I have my days when I plop down in front of the tv to watch the news or Frasier at 10:00 on Lifetime. But I don’t sit in front of the tv all day. And I have issues with not providing supervision and guidance to my children. They are only 3.5 years old. I think if you leave a child this age alone for too long you’re only asking for trouble. So while it might not seem as if I’m “working” at that moment (because I’m sitting down) I’m actually preventing world war three, a crayon mural on the wall, or other possible catastrophe.

So what am I asking for here is a little understanding and respect. Those of us who have made the choice to stay at home with their kids and give up a job they loved have made a choice that is both easy and tough. Easy because I don’t want to miss one minute with my children, but tough because you do put yourself and your career on hold in favor of the little ones. I wouldn’t have my life any other way. I love the fact that I get to see all the day to day happenings in my children’s lives. I just wish that sometimes we get the respect we deserve as working moms who don’t collect a monetary paycheck.