"Mummy go work, Daddy relax at home"

Mr Liow was joking with AN about something and causally made this statement which I happened to overhear.

And so I asked him to define 'relax'.

He smiled sheepishly and hurriedly tried to convince me that it was just a joke.

I know, but it's not very funny.

When he gets to watch TV, surf the net or play games on Wii while our infant hangs from my breast, am I relaxing? While he gets gets proper sleep at night and I get woken up by ER, am I relaxing? When his duties end by Fri evening and mine continues through the weekend, am I relaxing? When he has days of peaceful lunch (occasionally, coz he's mostly too bz to eat), I'll be at war with fussy-eating AN. Not relaxing at all. When there are things to do every second of the day, it's not relaxing.

Not many people see home-makers as workers, and I've had many people envious of my 'tai tai' status. Too many times, people tell me: "I wish I'm like you, don't have to work."

Maybe neatness at home, kids get fed, appointments get made and met, AN learning to read and write, laundry gets washed, bills get paid Etc., these all happened by magic!

I'm not upset though, and not complaining either. Sure, situations do get on my nerves many times but I am actually happier slogging my life away on my loved ones than an employer unrelated to me.

Although there are times I wish I can run away from kiddy tantrums (on bad days, the kids take turns to act up and those cries do make one feel depress), take a break from using my hands to using my brains more, dress up and go out without having to worry if the heavy diaper bag is properly re-loaded everytime, meet friends as and when I want, take leave to not do anything for one whole day, to just "relax", and "don't have to work", I will not trade my duties for anything.

I just wonder how it'll be like if "Mummy goes to work and Daddy relax at home."

P.s: MR Liow does try to help when he's at home. This post is not to say that he does nothing to help.

P.p.s: I love "relaxing" at home. This post is not to say I hate what I'm doing now.

Just wondering, why do people mistakenly comment that mums who stay at home do not need to work?

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