Mommying- A thankless job?

I was reading on a  couple blogs this morning  and thinking about this. Biblical Womanhood
and this  Article
really were interesting to me about what people consider being a mother. <p> What is a mother to you? <p> Is it just  your job? Yes, it  can be a thankless job at times. It can feel like no one appreciates the work you do and when you get sick, you do not get to take a sick day.  <p> I think that mothering is much harder  than any other job. i feel for the moms who are great moms and juggle a job and being a  good mother because they have no choice, but then I also feel for the children who are without their mothers. <p> I was at our homeschool coop this past week which is held at one homeschool mother’s house. She also recently began running a daycare from her home and one little boy in particular made me very sad.  He was probably the naughtiest one there and got alot  of attention  because of names he called people or other various naughty things.  But what made me so sad was when he was helping with cleanup after lunch and he helped wipe the tray  and a baby’s face and I praised him for what he had done. The look of shock on his face  and absolute joy at being praised  made me want to cry.  The lady of the house told me how  he had been kicked out of two daycares before  and how his father was  almost crying in thankfulness for her taking him. <p> You know, I understand people having to work when they do not want to, but it is needed, but why in a  two parent family that is healthy, could not one of them take the time to spend with this child who obviously needed them? Why would you continually send your child off to a place where you expected at the end of the day they would tell you the naughty things he had done? I understand having discipline problems, but this child seemed to do it strictly for the attention he craved. <p> I did see that the mother did not leave him there very long, so maybe there is more to the story and they are working on things, but it just showed me how thankful I am that i can stay home with my children. <p> It may be thankless right now, but in the end hopefully I will receive a crop that is worthy. <p>  Anyhow, just thinking out loud here! We work really hard at things when there are much easier ways to do them. Why? I homeschool when I could send my children to school everyday and have a empty house most of the day.  I do it not because it merits more  money, or more rewards, but because I want the best for them and not for me.