Mindy Carlson

I’ve had some occasional self-esteem issues with giving up my career and staying home to be a full-time mom and housewife. And how could I not? I worked with Nobel Prize winning Economists! I was in charge of coordinating a major portion an entire B.A. Degree Granting Program! I was thinking deep thoughts and making a visible impact in people’s lives! I had people who would actually do something when I asked them to do it! The first time even!

Now I’m wiping up drool and cleaning poopy butts.

I was deep into a stupor pondering the meaning of “regret” when I started to rethink this. I’m still doing work that is making a visible impact on people’s lives. And the impact is probably more important than what I was doing before.  After all, I’m creating two adults that will go out into the world and either make it better or worse.  I want them to make it better so I, with the help of Mark, am responsible for teaching them what “better” means.  I need to give them the tools necessary.  The ripple effect will be much great and much deeper than making sure a paper is copy edited in time to be published in the American Economic Review.  It’s the difference between dropping a huge boulder into a lake or tossing in a handful of pebbles.

Salary.com releases an annual report on what the work of average the stay-at-home-mom (SAHM or to be totally fair SAHParent) is worth. They surveyed more than 28,000 mothers and determined that their theoretical salary would be $117,867. And, yes, this is the 2010 survey. http://swz.salary.com/momsalarywizard/htmls/mswl_momcenter.html

Even John Lennon quit working to raise his son Sean. He, one of the Beatles and an undisputed Rock God, quit recording, touring, and actively raking in millions of dollars a year to just stay at home and raise his son.  If you were to watch the John Lennon: NYC episode of the PBS series American Masters (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/lennonyc/watch-the-full-film/1722/)  he called being a househusband one of the best things he’d ever done and he loved every minute of it.

There may be a day when I rejoin the traditional workforce.  On the other hand, that day may never come.  I may continue to thrive in the non-traditional workforce.   So far, my quilting has been taking up most of my time and fulfilling my need to have something that is “mine.”  I’ve been selling quilts and getting commissions that help cover the cost of my materials and ensure my house isn’t over-run with quilts and other sewn goods.

In the meantime, I will continue to raise my children and fulfill a valuable social need.