Choosing Motherhood as a Career – A Noble Choice

Tea Party with my Little Angels - One of the Best Parts of Motherhood
Tea Party with my Little Angels – One of the Best Parts of Motherhood

“When I grow up I am going to be a professional basketball player and when I get married I am going to be a professional mom and cooker” were the words that I just heard my little 5-year-old boldly proclaim.

As usual, one of my children has given me inspiration to write about one of life’s most profound necessities that often gets overlooked in this performance-focused, “gotta have results NOW” life we find ourselves living.

Motherhood and Career

What is a career? Merriam-Webster’s definition says, “an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person’s life and with opportunities for progress.” I would certainly say that motherhood fits the description! In this case, whether you choose to stay at home or work outside the home, your career is your children.

What constitutes a “professional”? Though some may disagree, many studies indicate that with 10,000 hours of deliberate practice, one becomes an expert.

Motherhood Is One Kind of Expertise

The  “10,000 Hour Rule” originates from a study performed by a group of psychologists in Berlin, Germany in the 1990’s.

The psychologists studied the practice habits of violin students from childhood to adulthood. The violinists were asked how many hours they had spent practicing the violin from the time they picked up the violin until the present.

Much to the psychologists’ surprise, the best performers practiced over 50% more than the less able performers. The psychologists believed that natural talent would play a much greater role than it actually did in the performance of the violinists.

Outliers, a book written by Malcolm Gladwell, suggests the same findings. He studied the lives of highly successful people and found that most were not “naturally” talented. The common factor for all of the successful subjects lay in the time they had invested in practicing.

Whether this be true or not, there is no denying that as a mother, we are practicing a great number of hours. Within the first year of a child’s life, you have spent 8,760 hours practicing on motherhood — that is, if your babies kept you up at night as much as mine did. Multiply that by a few more kids and a few more years, and YES, I WOULD CALL YOU MOMS PROFESSIONAL! You have certainly put in the hours.

Continuing Education: Moms Never Stop Learning

Most, but certainly not all, professionals enjoy higher education as well. Higher education requires hours upon hours of reading and studying for one’s degree. I don’t know about you, but I have read reams of parenting books and articles, listened to CD’s, watched DVD’s, read scripture, prayed and journaled my experience with parenting.

I was a psychology major in undergraduate school. Then I studied many, many hours in law school, passed the bar, and practiced law. I am no more a professional in those fields (actually much less so) than in being a mother of seven children. Moreover, I continue to study as they get older — hence, continuing education, also a requirement for professionals.

Early on in marriage, I decided that the return on investment of time with the children would far exceed any return on any other kind of profession I could enter. This is not to say that a person could not do both. I know many women who have been successful as professionals in the workplace and as professional moms as well. My mom is one of them.

A Crash Course in Economics

Moms wear many hats and spend tens of thousands of hours in home economics, which gives them another professional degree.

Moms get a crash course in economics the minute they take their children to the doctor and have to pay the pediatrician and the other bills related to the children… well, you see my point. The list could go on and on of the professions created out of motherhood.

Colleges of late are beginning to offer Home Economics majors once again, sometimes called Family and Consumer Science. They are teaching students skills in nutrition, sewing, textiles, interior design, personal management, financial planning…everything you need to know to have a prosperous and fulfilling life.

Well, in a sense, home economics is the basis of our lives. We work outside the home so that we can afford to live inside the home. The more money you can save, the more you will have for the home, your children, giving, and your enjoyment. Becoming an expert in home economics leads to more opportunity and ideas for more professions stemming from motherhood.

I am a huge proponent of creating industry in the home to serve the community outside the home. If you think about it, that’s what companies do. You are the mom/homemaker, and you are the consumer. Mom knows what other moms need.  I am convinced that motherhood and home economics generate ideas and create an entrepreneurial mind in mothers and in their children.

Motherhood is, indeed, a career. Moms are worthy professionals who learn through books and hands-on experience. There is no greater professional than those who aid in the development of other great professionals, and that is just what a mom accomplishes. In my opinion, there is no replacement for a mother’s influence, guidance, and industry in the home.

 

Similar Posts

15 Comments

  1. Motherhood is the career that has always been in the deepest depths of me. Thank you for standing up for the importance, necessity, and sweetness of it without denying the sacrifices.

    1. Thank you for doing the same Rebecca! I feel a connection with all moms who know the importance of the job and for those that don’t, I want to share with them just how valuable their work really is.

  2. Blessings to you, Stacy! A wholeheartedly, “Amen!”
    Continue and be encouraged in this most blessed endeavor of ‘motherhood.”

    Always Experiencing Him,
    Jody

    1. Thanks Jody! I know you have lived out motherhood to a tea! It is good to be able to see those who have run the race before me!

  3. Just what I needed to read today! Thank you!

    1. Eve, I’m so glad to hear that. That makes my day and makes what I do worth it!

  4. So blessed to read this article! am a registered pharmacist by profession but i choose to become a housewife ang mom to my two lovely daughters. Its a quite tough job yet its reward is simply priceless. the hugs and kisses of my kids. Their such a blessing from above. Its a good thing also that am there to guide them in the right path of life. I will never bargain this career so called MOM for anything else. My time with them is simply the best.. Thank you Stacy! Continue to be a blessing!!

    1. Thanks for sharing this gladys. I believe there is no higher calling than to invest daily – 24/7 in your kids. You get to teach them everything you know and from experience the time with them is way too short. Keep doing what you are doing!

  5. I have had the taste of both worlds. Prior to marriage and children I was a career professional in the corporate world. I was offered promotions to more important responsibilities and I always turned them down…I never felt comfortable on what I saw going up the ladder. I had children shortly after marriage and I knew why I never liked what I saw on that ladder. I was seeking a totally different kind of ladder the ones I help my children up so they can slide down the slide and feel the wind and sun on their faces.

    1. Beautiful story. People are really seeking happiness. I don’t think we slow down enough to think about what that really looks like. It seems that you were observant enough to see that.

  6. Wow, thanks for putting into words what I have felt for so long. I am a substitute teacher with a MA in Education. I made the choice to stay home when my children were born and now that they are 23 and 17 I sub on a as needed basis. My career as a mother has been the most rewarding career that I could ever ask for. No regrets for the years I did not work outside the home!

    1. Thanks for kind words Lyssa. It is one of the best careers in the world. Anyone with children will attest to motherhood being the most rewarding, yet the most difficult of jobs.

  7. As a mother of four grown children I always appreciate reading positive things about motherhood as a career. Recently my youngest daughter thanked me for “giving up” so much to be a stay at home mom (I have a degree in Economics) and I told her I didn’t give up anything, I did what I wanted to do and have four well adjusted adult children who all clearly understand that the world does not owe them a living. All are self sufficient and working providing goods and services to benefit their communities.

    1. I’m so encouraged by your comment! Kudos and raising well adjusted kids. So far, I feel the same. I still have a few more to go but no matter what will never regret making motherhood my true and ultimate career! I totally didn’t give up law or anything else – I had the privilege of raising and offering contributors to God and the world!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *