I was having dinner with another mom last weekend and we got into the following conversation:

ME: “So how do you spend most of your day?” (I know this mom is involved in their business)

MOM: “Work talaga. My whole day is spent at the office.”

ME: “Wow! Kaya mo? Good for you! Galing mo naman.” (Seriously, I admire moms who are able to manage work plus mommy-hood. My hat’s off to you!)

MOM: “Yeah, kaya naman. I manage. What about you?”

ME: “Well, most of my days are really spent at home with the kids.”

MOM: “As in, housewife ka lang talga???” (she knows that I am a full-time homemaker, yet she still seemed surprised at my answer)

ME: “Yep!” *grin*

MOM: (in a seemingly puzzled tone) “So you cook everyday??”

ME: “Not really everyday. When I cook, I take a lot of time in the kitchen so I choose to cook on some days only or especially when there’s an occasion or when we’re having guests over.”

MOM: (even more puzzled this time) “Ha?? So that’s it?? The WHOLE day you’re just at home??? What do you do?? As in, with the kids lang the WHOLE day???”

…….and then I shall stop here. (I gave her an answer, but let me stop my story here.)

I must warn you that some of what will follow this sentence might be inappropriate or not what should have entered my mind but I choose to be honest with you. Here were the thoughts that ran through my mind at that time: (Don’t worry, they didn’t linger in my mind long enough for me to be affected )

“Lang? …my husband never added that word in reference to what I do around the house.”

“She’s a mom, too….seriously? Does she really not understand how it is to stay home with the kids and manage a household?”

“Gosh…now that you put it that way, it does sound like my days are so unfruitful.”

“Note: I have to ask Dennis again about this, about how he really feels about me not working and being a stay-at-home mom.”

——-—and then I took my thoughts captive (see? I told you not to worry!)——-

I realized that there really will be people who will see what we stay-at-home moms do as a “waste” (for lack of a better word) of talent, brains, and skill (now, there’s a consolation: at least they all have the presumption that we are talented, smart, and skillful! ). The  tricky thing about motherhood is, unlike a career or a job where you get paid for what you do and you see immediate tangible rewards for your efforts at the end of a day’s work, we don’t get that kind of satisfaction even if we wanted to. In any job– you work, you have an output, you get paid. You do an exceptional job, you get a promotion. All the time and energy you put into your work become evident almost all the time, often right away.

On the other hand, moms do a lot of overtime work, but don’t get paid. The immediate tangible products of our day’s efforts  are usually in the form of arts and crafts and messy rooms. The rewards we get are in the form of smiles, hugs, and kisses (this I don’t get as often since my four-year old doesn’t like the thought of saliva transference). If we do an exceptional job, we get the satisfaction of knowing we gave it our best. The product of all the time and energy we put into our work sometimes become evident, but too often we have to wait.

….and we wait years….until we see our children grow up. We wait years before we see the real fruit of all our efforts, years before all the hard work pay off. But we have this promise that as we train up our children in the way they should go, in the end they will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6).

Motherhood is an investment with high risks. That’s because the stakes are high– we are dealing with lives.

But it is also one with the highest returns and the greatest rewards.