You’re Not Insane! You’re Just like the Rest of Us WAHMs!

I realize that my mothering style isn’t normal. Martha Stewart would have a heart attack at the number of unfinished projects in my home. Emily Post would faint dead away before she made it past the six laundry baskets stacked in the living room. In my universe it’s perfectly normal to stash little boy underpants in the living room furniture and keep playdough on the counter. Hey! I’m a work-at-home-mom!

It’s a Life of Convenience!

It’s a blessing to live this life of convenience. My office is just a few steps away from my center of gravity – the kitchen and laundry room. All of my daily duties can be encompassed in just twenty square feet. While I pound away at the keyboard, I can enjoy the company of my unfolded laundry and the sink full of dirty dishes. I don’t have to walk more than a few feet to find something to do with my time. It’s so wonderful to never suffer from boredom. I’m a model of convenient industry. I’d make any efficiency expert proud.

In fact, I’ve enjoyed my life of convenience so much, I’ve found more ways to improve the flow and function of my day. My children don’t have to sleep upstairs in their bed all night. I find it depletes my energy reserves to keep taking them to bed after midnight. It’s much more economical to just let them crawl into bed with me around the time I finish work. Then, why go up the stairs in the morning? Stashing clean Transformer and SpongeBob underpants in an antique drawer in the living room makes all the sense in the world. I save a good four minutes every morning with that trick alone!

A Life of Carefree Merriment and Joy!

When you’re up until midnight most nights working, it’s easy to adopt a carefree attitude. After all – what joy is there in a clean shower? It’s the hot water and the relaxation it entails that matters most. Toilet scrubbing? Bah! Who cares! The toilets flush, don’t they? Let’s focus on what’s really important, shall we?

Working at home lets me be closer to my children. This means I’m always up for a good game. My particular favorites to play with my children are our special versions of “Hush-Baby-and-Watch-This-Now-Mommy-Is-On-the-Phone” or “Find-Mommy’s-Wireless-Mouse-It’s-Hiding!” We can spend all day playing games together and sharing the joy of compressed deadlines and accidents that cause wet socks when you’re trying to walk out the door. Without such great company, it would be hard to appreciate the lack of free time in the evenings!

A Life of No Regrets

While most people might look around at the mess they live in on a daily basis and consider giving it all up to focus on the non-important things in life like sanitary living conditions, we press on. When you’re a working mother you have no regrets. Life will never look like it does in the movies, but movie star children wind up in rehab, anyhow.

Your kids will have a great time growing up learning how important it is to work hard for yourself and for your family. They will see what a dedicated mommy you are and while they might wish their friends could come over any time –not just after you’ve had an hour to frantically hide the worst of the messes – they will soon realize that at least you’re home often enough to make messes (and clean them occasionally.) You’re not alone in this insanity – you’re just like the rest of us! Share some of your favorite insane working mom moments or tips!

Profile image for Rebecca Garland
Rebecca is a full-time everything. She teaches English and reading to her much loved, if challenging, high school students during the day and is a freelance education writer in the evenings. With almost ten years in the classroom and advanced degrees in business and information science, Rebecca specializes in materials that inform, educate and entertain. Rebecca indulges herself by pretending to have spare time and writing about the ups and downs of being a freelancing mama whenever she gets a chance.

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4 thoughts on “You’re Not Insane! You’re Just like the Rest of Us WAHMs!”

  1. Excellent, as usual, Rebecca! I well remember the days (ok – years) when the clean clothes all lived in a pile between the end of the couch and the wall. Which is why my youngest could put on her big brother’s t-shirt all by herself before she could crawl:)

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  2. ROFL!!!!! Working moms unite! Love the undies in the drawer (at our house they are… well, everywhere) and the operational toilets. “Bah!” is right 🙂

    My kids are learning that mommy’s new fancy Single Cup Coffee Maker is the most important appliance in the kitchen (well, it’s the most used anyway). Daddy has learned that he CAN do groceries WITH all three kids in tow so that mommy can make her deadline. And mommy’s learned that bringing a laptop to bed is so not a good idea. (As in, “I’m almost finished, honey. Just a sec.”) :O

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  3. Thank you for writing this at just the time I needed to read it! Between working a full time job, taking care of a toddler who manages to undo all the housework I actually do finish, and trying to build up a writing portfolio… it gets overwhelming. Glad to know I’m not alone with the piles of clean clothes in the living room!

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