I heard a blurb on the news this morning about how much a stay at home mom should earn if it was a “paying job”.
Research estimates mom should be making $140,000 per year – a 3% jump from last year (for you statisticians).
Moms are working a 92 hour work week, including some 10 different jobs (housekeeper, cook, and psychologist to name a few).
First off, I want to say I totally agree – stay at home parents (moms AND dads) are undervalued. Here’s my two cents to go with it, though.
1 cent – The non stay at home parent has additional non-paid jobs dealing with children and home also. Maintenance man, auto mechanic, accountant. The jobs aren’t cut and dry. Both partners in a marriage share jobs and lines blur. The stay at home *IS* worth $140,000 but remember the non stay at home is worth their working day salary + more – in the same vein as the unpaid stay at home (see first cent above). I didn’t hear the research address this (to be fair it was a fluff piece on the morning news so it’s not like it was a balanced report).
2 cents – Remember that *professionally* – in the real paying world – we undervalue educators that take care of entire classrooms of our children every day. They share many of the same jobs as moms and make nowhere near $140,000 per year either.