do you consider yourself more of a homemaker or a sahp? - Page 3

[jellybeanandkids]

Both, although I am better at being a sahm than a homemaker. Now that DD is a little bit more independent and entertains herself a little bit, I am working on being a better homemaker.

[mamaofthree]

i like home maker. maybe it is old fashioned, but i feel like that is what i do, make this house a home.

h

[noobmom]

I'm surprised at all the people who voted homemaker.

I check that box if that's the only option on a form, but when asked, I always say SAHM.

I would be (and did) cook, clean, and generally keep up the house even if I was WOH. So, to me, the difference is that I take care of my kids now instead of working in IT. The parenting is the important distinction to me.

Obviously, if I didn't have kids, it would be different. Then I would either be a homemaker (if staying home by choice) or unemployed (not by choice). Or, I guess, a woman of leisure.

[GoBecGo]

Didn't read the whole thread...

OP based on your first post i am a homemaker, i do the DIY, most of the decorating, if things need fixing i fix them or arrange the right tradesperson, i cook, i clean (hardly ever but more than anyone else who lives here! ) and i also do the bulk of the childcare (though when DH is home that's much more evenly split). I knit, sew, craft and generally create.

However, for some reason, even though i hardly EVER get time to do it, i consider myself a writer !?! I tend to put Domestic Logistics Specialist on forms under "occupation".

[~PurityLake~]

Originally Posted by noobmom

I'm surprised at all the people who voted homemaker.

I check that box if that's the only option on a form, but when asked, I always say SAHM.

I would be (and did) cook, clean, and generally keep up the house even if I was WOH. So, to me, the difference is that I take care of my kids now instead of working in IT. The parenting is the important distinction to me.

Obviously, if I didn't have kids, it would be different. Then I would either be a homemaker (if staying home by choice) or unemployed (not by choice). Or, I guess, a woman of leisure.

Kids or no kids, work or no work, we all have to do our laundry, cook, wash dishes and clean the house. That is why I call myself a stay at home mom, because that is why I'm here.

[mamaofthree]

BUT people who WOH also take care of their kids.

h

[moondiapers]

Homemaker, though I do it more for my children than my husband. I think they deserve to live in a clean home and have healthy food to eat....dh works 12 hour shifts so that falls more on me than him. He makes the money to make it possible for me to stay home and do childcare for a small number of children in addition to our own.....he takes care of the outside of our home, I take care of the inside.

[~PurityLake~]

Originally Posted by mamaofthree

BUT people who WOH also take care of their kids.

h

Yes, but I said that is why I am here. Because I was talking about me and my choice to be a stay at home parent, not a stay at home cook, not a stay at home housecleaner, I chose to not work so I can be a stay at home mom.

[Kelly1101]

Originally Posted by noobmom

Or, I guess, a woman of leisure.

I'm so calling myself that from now on.

[tallulahma]

homemaker.

i consider cooking, cleaning, decorating, homeschooling, etc to be my calling in life. I have a degree and worked as a nurse and loved it. but that was a "job" and this that i do now is a life calling. I feel blessed and fulfilled doing this.

[KempsMama]

I consider myself a homemaker. My responsibility is to create and maintain a home for my husband and children.

Also, I love this quote;

I prefer the word homemaker, because housewife always implies that there may be a wife someplace else. ~Bella Abzug

And this paragraph keeps me inspired;

If drudgery only means dreadfully hard work, I admit the woman drudges in the home, as a man might drudge at the Cathedral of Amiens or drudge behind a gun at Trafalgar. But if it means that the hard work is more heavy because it is trifling, colorless and of small import to the soul, then as I say, I give it up; I do not know what the words mean. To be Queen Elizabeth within a definite area, deciding sales, banquets, labors and holidays; to be Whiteley within a certain area, providing toys, boots, sheets cakes. and books, to be Aristotle within a certain area, teaching morals, manners, theology, and hygiene; I can understand how this might exhaust the mind, but I cannot imagine how it could narrow it. How can it be a large career to tell other people's children about the Rule of Three, and a small career to tell one's own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone, and narrow to be everything to someone? No; a woman's function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute I will pity Mrs. Jones for the hugeness of her task; I will never pity her for its smallness.
~G.K. Chesterton The Emancipation of Domesticity

[raelize]

Originally Posted by KempsMama

How can it be a large career to tell other people's children about the Rule of Three, and a small career to tell one's own children about the universe?

this is what makes me insane. if i went to work full-time and sent my kids to school, i would most likely be (like 99% sure) that i would be a high school science teacher, cause i want to be home when my kids are home.

and if i teach other people's kids, and be one of their mamas-away-from-home, i am a hero and congratulated. if i choose to raise my kids and educate them at home, i am dropping out of the system and reverting to some kind of stepford wife.

i consider myself a sahm. if i didn't have kids, i would be working full time outside of the home and i wouldn't feel responsible for the house. while most of the housekeeping duties fall to me, its just cause i am home most often. dh does housework also. and if he worked at home i would expect him to be more responsible.

[Maela]

Originally Posted by Erinz

I consider myself a RADICAL HOMEMAKER Which, by the way, was an entertaining book. I may not be the tidiest home parent in the world, but I rock it in a bunch of ways. I waffle sometimes, thinking this isn't IT for me, that I want more from life. But really, I just want more time to do the home/garden part which will happen when my littles are older and I'm cool with that.

I am working on becoming more of a radical homemaker (loved the book!). Taking care of my children is just a part of the job. I hope to be a homemaker for a long time.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Sahp I am not a good house keeper never will be that I can see.

[Autumn Breeze]

Both, just depends on who is asking how I answer. What I do, makes our house a home. Messy and cluttered, but home nonetheless.

Everything I do is for the home and family, cook, clean, budget, shop, pay bills, care for and teach the children, take them to and from activities. It's what I've always wanted to do

[mamaofthree]

autumn: i agree! i have been pondering this for a few days now. and i feel that way too. i make these four walls a home. otherwise it is just a house with some people living in it. i make it the place everyone loves to be in and i care for all those in it.

h

[Paxjourney]

I'm a homemaker. My girls are 3 yrs apart, we arn't planning on having more than the two we have naturally. We may adopt or foster in the future but not at this time.

I have always been the primary caregiver of our children, though DH is a VERY involved partner and father when his work allows. When my girls were younger I took a few classes part-time and then a year of fulltime(more like 60+ hours a week) to finish my nursing degree. After finishing my degree I stayed home for a year and then returned/entered the workforce to get work experence in my field. I worked 32 hours a week for 6mos and I am currently working between 8-16hours a week outside the home as a nurse. We will be moving in less than 2mo for Dh's job. His new job gives him every other Friday off and NO TRAVEL! (HUGE for our family) I am currently Homeschooling DD2 and Will be homeschooling DD1 starting after Christmas.

I don't plan to look for work right away. Once we settle into our new town. Purchase a new home I might work 8-16hours a week. Dh has no expectation of me working but I like to use my knowledge, I like working in a field that helps people. However my primary focus is my family and children, which is another reason why I went to school and plan to work to some degree IF I ever have to be the primary financial supporter of my family I want to have a skill that allows me to do so.

[femalephish]

Originally Posted by mamaofthree

i like home maker. maybe it is old fashioned, but i feel like that is what i do, make this house a home.

h

That's such a sweet way to look at it! I ussually think, "ick" homemaker sounds so 1950!
When I tell people I say "full-time mom" I don't stay-at-home unless I have to!

[newbymom05]

Now I'm curious--homemakers, if you didn't have children, would you stay home to craft, create, cook, take care of your husband, the house, etc?

[KempsMama]

Originally Posted by newbymom05

Now I'm curious--homemakers, if you didn't have children, would you stay home to craft, create, cook, take care of your husband, the house, etc?

Yes I would.

Part of what I do has a homemaker extends far beyond the walls of my home. My husbands single friends frequently eat here. I take care of other children, I do volunteer work for our church. My DH and I firmly believe that a Christian home has no boundaries, and while he is the head of our home, I am what makes it work.