BellaOnline Forums Relationships Married No Kids "I work for free but my work is worth $144,000/yr"

If I EVER hear that stupid argument that all the work people do for their kids is worth $x (the latest I heard was $144,000 per year), I think I am going to lose it.

You know those articles. They are the ones where someone goes on like:

"I am a hard-working stay-at-home mommy (puke) and my work is so valuable. I am a nurse, a teacher, a maid, a cook, a repairwoman, etc. etc. and to get someone to do this for you you'd have to pay $144,000 a year."

OH
MY
GOODNESS

Are you kidding me???? First of all, I'm sure these people have no nursing training, have not gone to cooking school, don't have degrees in Education, etc. etc. So no way in heck could you get someone to pay you ANYTHING for your "skills" in these areas. You are doing this for YOUR KIDS -- which is doing it for YOURSELF. I clean my own apartment -- does that mean I deserve (from whom, I would like to know -- the "fairness" gods?) the added salary of a cleaner too? Oh no, that's right, I'm doing it for myself.

Wow, this argument makes me mad.

The only way I can find it justifiable is in looking at the fact that a stay-at-home person does thinks for his/her working spouse, and that is creating value for the spouse. But that's a different argument.

It does aggravate me, too. I think people say that because a lot of people think that being a SAH mom is a piece of cake, and they are taken for granted, etc. BUT - being a mom is NOT being a babysitter, nanny, caregiver, etc. When you're a mom, that's what you are - a MOM. It's not your career, it's your choice.

*CACKLING*

I've heard that victim's cry before, too, but never thought about it in the terms you presented.

Same could be said about anything you do for yourself, couldn't it? Hmmmm...

- I went shopping today (personal assistant work) all by myself and hauled the groceries up three flights of stairs. My time shopping was worth $100 alone. With driving and extenuating delivery charges, that's an easy $200 total.

- Wearing my chef hat, I cooked two meals for myself and provided a meal for my cat. Also did two loads of laundry (maid). Another $100.

- Cleaned my kitchen and bathroom (still the maid). Conservatively, another $50.

- Stubbed my toe in the bathtub and had to take time and dig deep in my medical background for remedies (nurse). I deserve another $50.

- I worked out today (personal trainer mode), but I neglected to find out the monetary value of the joule. Gotta be worth some serious cash.

At $400+ per day, holy krap, am I underpaid. Thanks for pointing this out, Pinecone.

I just hate the agument that goes like this:

I am a Mommy I have X kids and one on the way!!! I dont have or have a Husband and I have to be home to take them to from school off on the weekends, holidays and any other time because Family is very important to me.... PUKE

and:

I cant work over time because i will lose hud. welfair, wic, food stamp.....ect.... and I am broke my kids have to have blah blah blah (meanwhile she has a better car, cloths and health care for free, no rent or grocery bills and her kids have the best ps3 and mp3 and all that that money can buy and she's craping all over my nerves trying to get me to work her shift and get my money!!!)

oh and never forget this one:

I am so tired I was up all night with the kids sick and I feel sick and oh my XXX hurts and I have a head ache and my husband0boyfriend left me and my life sucks because i never get a day off and I work longer harder and never complan and never get any thanks or praise. (mean while 5 hrs later she is still "never" complaning about the above and you have to do all HER work and get slaped in the face by the boss who NEVER praises her when the boss says to HER "I wish we had more ladies like you I dont know how you manage to do such a great job and take care of your family, then turns to you and says YOU should take notes from her)

Oh and if you dont do her work then she tells the boss that you have done nothing and she cant do it all by her self and pulls the family card again.....

and she makes employee of the month and gets a raise and a bonus and a promotion!!

HEY bit me!

The thing is, Moms aren't an expert at any of these things. To make money as a cook, I mean good money, you have to be good at it. And no one is good at that many things. The type of work they do probably pays like $10 an hour, or something awful like that.

My personal pet peeve is when a woman gets divorced, and has been staying at home for years, and then expects to get half of what her working husband has been making. I'm sorry? I think the husband should pay for the kids and support them, don't get me wrong. But the husband (or the wife, depending on the situation) is the one that made a living for the family. The (uterus) wife latched on to her meal ticket (wallet), and then cries when the money isn't rolling in anymore. This story is so common that it is ridiculous.

I don't make $144,000 a year, although I do well, and I've been working for years in my profession, and studied for years prior to that. You can't tell me that someone that is working in the home should be making more than me. I agree their job is brutal, but it isn't skilled labor. Anyone can do it, even if they don't do it well. There is no hiring process. If there was, maybe the world would be spared poor parents. I know so many kids that have been negatively impacted by their parents, and they never should have had kids.

AMEN! the stupid should not breed! but as long as they get paid more money for each kid they pop out they breed stupid even more. dont get me wrong I am sure that there are people out there that have broke the goverment baby paycheck cycle but they are few and far between!

I think SAH moms have a hard job and not everyone is cut out to do that...that is why they should not have kids!!! a good mother is worth there weight in gold because they can change the future but teaching there kids right from wrong, they are there to set a good moral and ethical example and that shapes the goverment of tomorrow. that is a big responiblity for anyone and they do deserve the credit for that. but with that said it is like anyother career out there they choice to be a mother and take all of that on they should not think that that gives them the right to put everyone else down or pull the I got kids card at work just because they dont want to go in or they think you dont have a life so you can to all there work because they disreve a break.
PLEASE!!! it is not my fault they CHOOSE to have kids Or they CHOOSE to Work out side the home and have a family. Personaly I think moms should stay home and take care of there families. either work from home or have a job with the school where they are on the same scheduel as there kids and no one is stuck covering for them because little brat has the summer off and they cant find a setter. here the teachers, teachers aides, kitchen workers and office workers have about the same schedeual as the kids so... it is not a problem finding a setter because they are home when they get there and go to work after they take them to school. but you still have the Im a mom your single and can do my work but its not as bad because over 3/4th the workers have kids so it dont fly well.

Sounds like a nanny...

"The starting salary for a live-in nanny as defined by the US State Department is $13,905"

"Average salary of a Fast Food worker $15930"

Good job mommies!!! You are only worth 10% less than the 16 year old at Burger King. Keep up the good work...

Skeeter

If being a 'stay at home mother' is such a valuable and worthwhile profession (not saying it isn't... but bear with me) why are so many men reluctant to do it? why are they afraid what their mates will say?

There have been loads of articles about 'househusbands' and loads of men stay it immasculates them - so if they want kids, it *has* to be the woman who gives up work...

.. sadly, due to some women being totally and utterly desperate for children, they get knocked up, sprog.. and then realise that their husband is shagging his secretary but can't leave as she is 100% financially dependant on her husband.

I swear, if I ever got knocked on the head and changed my mind about having kids.. I would, never.. ever be totally financially reliable on my husband... in actual fact, I would probably go back to work ASAP and give them to him :-D

How come the kids at Burger King make more than me?

I really couldn't agree with this more. There is a show called Big Spenders on A&E that is about people in debt. In one show, a husband and wife had ridiculous amounts of debt, driven up primarily by the wife. Their poor son was trying to get his mom to start spending responsibly. When they would do things, she would just stand around and say, "this is starting to annoy me."

I can just see what will happen to this family. They'll go bankrupt, and the husband will get fed up and divorce her. Then all of the debt will transfer to the husband and eventually the son, who will remain in her custody, and she will get alimony and child-support, and keep spending away. Meanwhile, the husband is in financial ruin. I really, REALLY want to find this woman and slap her over and over again.