The Mommy Career (cont'd)

b Title -- Average Annual Salary
Child Day Care Worker $19,176
Educator $38,500
Taxi Driver $25,884
Facilities Manager $68,131
Short-order Cook $26,009
Laundry Attendant $16,959
Janitor, Sr. $24,509
Actor/Performer $41,198
Counselor $27,638
CEO $529,362
Administrative Assistant $35,475
Accounting Clerk III $32,520
Licensed Practical Nurse $34,627
Hairstylist $19,411
Plumber I $27,609
Automotive Mechanic I $26,694
Cake Decorator $20,199

All salary information is national averages from Salary.com, May 2002

When the folks at Salary.com calculated all of these jobs into one 90 hour per week position, the salary (listen up mommies!) came out to be $88,276. You think THAT is a lot, but when you factor in overtime and raises, it comes out closer to $113,000. Now add in the fact that we mommies are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and, well... the sky is the limit.

And this is just for the stay-at-home mommy with no extra-curricular activities. It doesn’t take into account all of the working moms out there who do the difficult and challenging duty of motherhood while balancing a career. Or the crazy people like me who just have a career that they don’t get paid for!

Recently I asked my husband for a PDA. His response was “Why do you need a PDA? You are a stay-at home mom!” After I picked him up off the floor (it was just a reaction, I SWEAR!), I proceeded to tell him about my upcoming week: exercise every morning, three playdates, two meetings, two websites to update and let’s not even mention the laundry, the cleaning, the cooking and spending quality time with my daughter.
After about fifteen minutes of me rattling off my list, he finally said, “Ok, ok, I get your point. Let’s see how we can get that PDA for you.”

We mommies work HARD. But the best part about us is that we do it because we love it. I would take a kiss from Caroline over a bonus any day of the week. She is worth far more than any paycheck I could ever hope to receive. I get more joy and pleasure from being her mom than I would ever get doing anything else I could possibly do!

So this Mother’s Day, take the day off Moms! Not from your kids, but from the millions of other little things you have sitting on your calendar or to-do list. Spend the day doing what you love best – being with your little ones, whether they are two or twenty-two. I guarantee it will be the best “vacation” day you have ever spent!

Happy Mother’s Day to all of our wonderful Mommies here!

Source: http://www.salary.com/careers/layouthtmls/crel_display_Cat10_Ser253_Par358.html