Sunday, May 13, 2007

a little underpaid?


According to Salary.com, a stay at home mom with two kids under five and one six year old should be paid somewhere between $78,000 and $199,000 per year based on the work she's doing. The median salary would be $138,000/year.

That's slightly more than Annie makes.

She hears Cooper yell out, "Mommy!" about 374 times a day. At the same time, Parker is crying because she just crawled under something and is stuck. While this is happening, Griffin is probably sitting on whatever she's crawled under, but he doesn't notice because he's playing a video game or watching tv...but he'll turn to Annie and ask if he can have a snack....and he's persistent.

So the six year old is asking for a snack, oblivious to the fact that his little sister is crying and Cooper is about to if he doesn't get his mom to look at him each and every time he yells, "Mommy!".

I'm not sure you could pay someone enough for this. I should mention that she cooks, cleans, drives, tucks in, reads stories, hugs, bathes, and loves the heck out of these kids.

I'm guessing years from now, she'll look back at this time and not be too upset that she gave up some money to stay home and be a mom to these three cute little kids.

She's thrown everything into raising the kids. Career, time, her daily priorities, her energy, most of her food stained clothing...and I'll bet she wouldn't trade that for $138,000...

although there are probably a few moments every day she'd trade in...

She's the greatest. I'm in awe of what a great mom she is. People who are into sports watch sports. People who have hobbies often spend money getting books about their hobbies. People of faith tend to have books on their shelves reflecting that faith. People who love pop culture have games, books and a tivo full of pop culture. My wife has 30+ books on how to be a great mom.

it shows...

13 comments:

  1. You could hire a Mexican to do all of the above for a lot less than $138,000.

    Just sayin'.

    Happy Mother's Day, Annie.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous5:12 PM

    ...just chalk that up to one more bigoted comment left on this blog.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous5:21 PM

    At $5.75 per hour (which is what an average daycare worker caring for 3-8 babies/toddlers makes) and 18 hours per day every day for a year with no vacations and no breaks, an at-home mom should make about $37,595. I'm not sure where salary.com got its figures.

    Didn't Mike Brown awhile back also say you're worth only what society decides you're worth? And it's your tough luck if you sign on for that amount? Moms aren't worth anything at all. Interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  4. an honest question here...

    is it bigoted if it is true?

    i am seriously asking this.

    ReplyDelete
  5. that's a valid query. I'm Irish and I'd do it for less than $138,000...

    ReplyDelete
  6. so you're saying that a mom should only be "paid" minimum wage?

    ReplyDelete
  7. no, she's saying that some one who does what a mom does outside the home typically gets paid around 6 bucks and hour.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Are moms wonderful? Yes. Is my mom amazing. Yes. Is Bragg's mom amazing? You better believe it. Do I want that responsibility? No way. Would I survive one day? Not a chance. But should they be paid for a responsibility they chose, and generates no money? Pointless argument, so let's all appreciate Murph's point that Annie is a wonderful mom and not turn his Mother's Day post into another blog war.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous5:00 PM

    Generates no money? WTF?

    ReplyDelete
  10. By generates no money, I mean a salesman sells stuff, which generates money, which leads to a paycheck. Students pay tuition, which generates money, which leads to a teacher's paycheck. Movie stars and athletes generate a LOT of money, which leads to their huge paychecks. Where would the money come from to pay mothers?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous4:06 PM

    Highway workmen don't generate money. The President doesn't generate money. Judges don't generate money. Nurses don't generate money. Teachers don't generate money either. They're paid for a SERVICE. Church workers are paid for a service; as are Policemen, District Attorneys, Daycare Workers and Caseworkers. Mothers are also providing a service. A service that is undervalued. So we've come full circle. Good job, Sean for publically appreciating your wife's service. I hope you pay her well.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sara,

    I'm not saying mothers don't provide a service. But it's a choice to become a mother. It's not a choice whether we need roads or teachers or policemen. People step up to fill needs. A mother creates the need by having a child.

    Mothers are wonderful. I love mine very much. And as I said earlier, I'd never survive in that role, so my hat is off to all mothers.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous11:19 PM

    Perhaps the problem, here, isn't that people UNDER-value motherhood.

    Perhaps the problem is that people OVER-value money.



    (in regard to what Sara said earlier, I'm not sure exactly what I said, but what I probably meant was that a person's services have the *economic* value of whatever the free market assigns to their service - it has nothing to do with the inherent value of their service)

    ReplyDelete