If you put a 'just' in front of what I do.... I might slap you.

I hate that. "Just" a mom. Come on. Really?!

I often feel like life's just going on without me, leaving me behind in the dust of baby diapers and drool. I have a degree. I'm talented. I'm a hard worker- but right now I'm 'just' a mom.

Usually there are two reactions to my answer to the question 'what do you do?'

1- Oh, I could never do that. I'd go crazy!
 or
2- What do you do all day?

Very rarely I'll hear a third reply that throws me for a loop.
"Awesome. I did that for a few years, best time of my life."

As a stay at home parent you don't expect to hear those words.
I'm a closeted stay at home mom lol. I whisper it to people and keep it hush hush because, really- who wants the drama?

I hate the phrase 'just' a mom. And yet I find myself using it a lot, too. As if being the number one support and caretaker of another human being is some job to be ashamed of. :/ Our society on the whole doesn't value children or mothers. If you look at the news, we aren't on it. In a world where celebrity gossip tops Nobel prize-winners, it's no wonder stay at home parents aren't on the top of anyone's priorities.

We're invisible. The dads who do it all while their wives are away, the moms who take on days at a time when their husbands are on military leave. It's hard. It's thankless. It's not a JOB- if it were, there would be pay.

Being a parent is hard. Period. I'm not saying working parents aren't lovely as well, they are.... but I am saying kudos to the parents who make it work. Who are able to cut down everything to take on one of the toughest responsibilities out there. Shaping the future for little minds and hearts to be better people to come. Nothing 'just' about it.