Dear Stay at home Mom

So a few weeks back I saw a blog about working moms who use stay at home moms as their back up plan for a babysitter. While I don’t doubt that some people may do that, unintentionally or intentionally. I wanted to shed a little light from the other side.

Dear stay at home Mom,

I’m sorry that you feel us working moms use you as a last resort or our backup plan. I don’t believe that is our intent. You see, we spend hours researching the best daycares, we go and talk to directors. We discuss schedules, food, nap times, curriculums. We put a lot of thought into who is going to watch our precious kids for 8+ hours a day. It is not a decision we take lightly. We can’t be there during the day for our little ones so we want someone we trust 100% for that job. Someone we trust to kiss boo boos, and hug the tears away. Someone who can chase monsters during nap time. Someone who will help inspire creativity.

Unfortunately, there are times that our little ones can’t be at school. If they are sick, which I would never ask someone who had littles of their own to watch my sick kid. We don’t want to spread germs. I would hope other moms would do the same. Plus if they are sick you can bet that we want to be the one to be there to hug away the pain.

But there are times when daycares closes but work stays open. You see this invokes fear in us. Who is going to watch our kids. We have to work, if we didn’t don’t you think we would be at home with our littles every day! So now we have to decide between losing money and finding a sitter. Yes, sometimes it can be last minute. So dear stay at home moms you aren’t our last resort or our back up plan. You are someone that we trust completely to nurture our little while we are gone to work.

Remember all those questions we ask daycare directors. Well, we don’t ask you those A) it would be weird. B) We trust you. We know that you will love our little, take care of our little, kiss away boo boos, hug away tears, chase away monsters, inspire creativity and even discipline when necessary.

We don’t do it because we think you have nothing to do all day. We know you pour yourself out to take care of your family. That you spend countless hours sweeping the floor that you probably swept 10 minutes before. Cooking 3 meals a day, then having to clean up after those meals. You do nap time, bedtime. You do ALL the time. We know. We may not understand fully, but we know.

So please know that we don’t think of you as a last resort. We just trust you.  We know our littles will be cared for you with you. We know they will have friends to play with. We know they will be loved.

Sincerely,

Working Mom