Time for a raise

I read this great article about stay-at-home mothers the other day. The question the article asked was, how much would a mom who stays home make if all of her responsibilities transferred over into the corporate sector. From organizing transportation to teaching correct grammar, what would a comperable salary be for a mom who stays home?

Before I give you the incredible answer, I just finished being a say-at-home dad for one single day, today. Every Tuesday it is just me and the kids, while mom heads off to her various jobs. This particular Tuesday our little guy Simon has been under the weather. His first real illness, a slight fever and lots of... shall we say... used klennex, or Simon Slime, as we call it around these parts. Life, staying/working at home, gets a whole lot tougher when my primary job is holding, rocking, and wiping instead of the zillion other things that my list said I needed to get done. Needless to say, I have just today experienced that knawing tension, between my agenda and my children, even while being home all day. I am not quite sure which won more of my attention? But I do know which won more of my energy. Can my energy go one place while my attention goes another? Just the kind of parent I hoped I would never be, interesting revelation. (* note to self - attention and energy are essencial and powerful partners, don't waist their potential especially when relationships are in the balance.)

We survived today, I think super-Simon feels better, I know he did when mom came walking through the door. So, the answer to the question about a moms salary? $131,000.00 At first I thought this was too high. Not after today. In fact, to me it's obviously too low.