by Robin Tidwell

Created on: January 02, 2011   Last Updated: January 04, 2011

There are many benefits to being a stay-at-home parent: you can keep to your own schedule, you have few deadlines, and you get to see your kids grow up, without missing all those important milestones.

Being a stay-at-home parent implies that you have children, so of course your schedule revolves around theirs; if they are in school, you are usually the one responsible for seeing that they arrive, at a certain time, and for seeing that they get back home, at a certain time.

Then the rest of the day is yours, to do with as you will, right?  Not really, in spite of what many friends and acquaintances may believe – or even your spouse!

Typically, a stay-at-home parent is the one responsible for all the day-to-day details, such as cleaning, laundry, cooking, shopping, running errands, making doctor appointments, and so forth.  The stay-at-home parent must also pay the bills, meet with servicemen or contractors, may have an in-home job, and may be taking care of younger children as well.

You may have a spouse who helps with all these things, or one who takes over many of these duties, but it might be just you, as the one at home, who has to fit all these things into your day.

The upside is that you can do most, if not all of them, on your own schedule.  If you want to wear sweats and pin up your hair to take the kids to school, you can do so and take your shower later.  If you want to start the laundry before cleaning the kitchen, it’s your choice.  No boss to stand over you, no one to supervise or criticize.

And, if something doesn’t get done during the day, there’s usually no one to complain or question.  Deadlines are, for the most part, nonexistent.  Of course, there are school forms to sign, bills have due dates, and appointments you’ve made have specific times but, really, those are up to you and you have the choices.

The main reason a parent decides to stay home is so he or she can actually raise the children; what a novel concept, giving birth and raising your children, instead of hiring someone to do it for you.  The great benefit to the parent is that he is the one who sees that first smile, first step, hears the first word, experiences all those wonderful “firsts”, instead of hearing about it second-hand.

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