• Home
  • Shop
  • About
  • First time visiting? Start here!
  • Also Seen On
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Me
  • Freebies

Oh, Honestly!

Real Life for Real Moms

  • Family Life
    • Parenting Essays
    • Parenting Humor
    • Marriage
    • Informational
    • Meme Monday
    • Keeping It Real Challenge
  • I Tried It!
    • DIY
    • Crafts
    • Recipes
    • #ONENEWFOOD
  • Things I Wish I’d Known
  • Holidays
  • Random

Why My Stay-at-Home-Mom Title Just Got Complicated

September 5, 2017 By Lauren

This post contains affiliate links. I’ll earn a small commission on any purchases made through these links.

“What are you going to do with your free time?”

I hear the question a dozen times in a week’s span and each time it’s asked, I feel my defenses rise, along with my need to justify.

This year is one of transition. My youngest has started kindergarten, and for the first time in nearly a decade, I find myself alone five days a week.

When your kids go to school and you continue to stay home, your stay at home mom title gets a little more complicated.

Why My Stay-at-Home-Mom Title Just Got More Complicated

I have not returned to a traditional job, so the question persists: What are you going to do with your free time?

I have no simple answer for this. My need for validation from friends and even strangers bothers me, but so does the thought of them judging me for being a stay-at-home-mom with no kids at home.

The truth, of course, is a bit more complicated than that.
I am a stay-at-home-mom. I’m also a work-from-home-mom. But because my job does not fall into a neat category, I find it difficult to explain.

Financially, I’m not a big contributor to our family. Because my work falls into the ‘self-employed’ category and because I’m still in the early stages of monetizing my blog and my writing, I often feel like a fraud claiming “I work!” when I don’t bring in a steady paycheck.

In my mind, I know that everyone has to start somewhere, that this chance to focus on my work on a regular basis will reap rewards in the (near?) future, that it’s an unbelievable blessing that we are in a position where I not only don’t have to go back to a traditional job, but that my husband is so supportive of me following my dreams.

But I still worry…

That others will judge me.
That I’ll fail in my pursuits.
That I’ll realize what I do doesn’t matter.

BUT THEN.

Five days into school my son gets sick. We don’t even make it a full week before school germs invade our home.

I immediately begin to resent my lost time. How will I ever make this a legitimate business if my work time is constantly cut into? I’ve already discovered that all the home stuff… laundry, cooking, cleaning, errands… eats up a good portion of my days without the kids. How will I ever make this work?

And then I remember the other reason this work from home thing is a dream of mine.

It’s for this very reason.

It’s so I can drop what I’m doing at a moment’s notice when my kids get sick.
It’s so I can check YES, I’LL ATTEND when they have a field trip or when the school needs volunteers.
It’s so I can be there for my kids without worrying about eating up my personal days at work.

And because I know what a blessing this freedom is, because I know that so many parents would love to be in this position, I will do my best to stop worrying about what other people think I do with my time. I’ll do my best to drop my defenses. I’ll do my best to use my time wisely without thinking that the only way I’m a valuable part of our family is if I’m bringing in a paycheck.

What am I going to do with my free time? I’m going to use it to serve my family and work towards my dreams. I think that’s a pretty valuable use of my time, don’t you?

 

Filed Under: Family Life, Parenting Essays Tagged With: motherhood, parenting, school, seasons, stay at home mom, transitions, work at home mom

About Lauren

If you enjoy picture-perfect home decor, perfectly prepared recipes, and perfectly behaved children, you've come to the wrong place. Meet Lauren. She isn't perfect, but she's perfectly real.

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

Search Site

About Lauren

If you enjoy picture-perfect home decor, perfectly prepared recipes, and perfectly behaved children, you've come to the wrong place. Meet Lauren. She isn't perfect, but she's perfectly real. Read More…

Grab My Book!



Copyright © 2025 Oh Honestly! · NEW Site · Log in