“When I Grow Up”

“When I grow up, I want to be a forensic scientist.”  “When I grow up, I want to be in the military.”  “When I grow up, I want to be a garbage man.” “When I grow up, I want to be a fashion designer.”

This was the conversation my children and step-children were having in the car the other day.  While each is a worthy pursuit and I’m proud of each of the kids, I noticed that the girls didn’t say, “I want to be a homemaker when I grow up.”  Which made me think, how many girls dream of becoming a homemaker when they grow up? 

I know I sure didn’t dream of becoming a homemaker.  I can recall a second grade assignment that had us list what we wanted to be at various ages in life.  I had listed: rock star, teacher, nurse, and maid. It’s possible I also listed “Daisy Duke”.  Hey, I hadn’t come a long way yet, baby. By high school, I was still clinging to the whole “rock star” thing but, by then, being a television producer or anchor was a little more practical.  Still, I wasn’t going to be a homemaker!

So, a brief stint as a news anchor and producer and many (many) years later, here I am… a homemaker.  I’ve kept one toe in the advertising/academic world, but I’m about to pull that out and be 100% committed.  Okay, maybe that’s not the best word. But do you know, I’m okay with it!  It has taken me a long time to be okay with being a homemaker…even while I’ve been a homemaker.  Because I’m not just any homemaker, I’ve got a Master’s degree for crying out loud!  I should be using it after all, right?  Right? 

While the kids were having their “when I grow up conversation”, I realized I had been brainwashed by the whole feminist movement that was in full force during my upbringing.  Being a homemaker is WRONG!  I can do BETTER than that!  I DESERVE better than that! 

Ugh.  Do you have any idea how much I’ve struggled to purge myself of those lies?  Really, God deserves all the glory for doing that.  He’s shown me that the greatest, most important job I’ll ever have is raising children who love Him, serve Him and have compassion for others.  And He is training and equipping me to be one of the best people for that job.  Not the Sunday School teacher.  Not public or private school teachers.  Not the doctor. Not the government.  Not anybody else. 

Derailing for a moment here, because, frankly, I get very angry when parents tell me “Oh, I could NEVER stay home or homeschool my kids.  They would drive me NUTS!  I can’t WAIT for them to go back to school!  I just don’t know how you do it!”  First, I do it through God’s strength and a big heapin’ helpin’ of His grace.  Second, and I might sound crazy here, but I actually like being with my kids.   That’s not to say I don’t have my days when I want to throw in the towel and put them all on the school bus.  I should add that I’m not talking about moms whose families depend on her income.  She is still serving her family and God will honor that.  I had to put Caitlyn in daycare for four months when she was barely one year old.  I hated every second of it, but our family needed my extra income and God saw us through it.

Back on track…Now I’m on a mission to make sure my daughter knows that being a homemaker is a GOOD thing.  It’s a blessing to be able to stay home and homeschool my kids and I hope she sees that.  I hope she doesn’t rule it out as a possible thing to be “when she grows up.”  I hope she sees the value in it.  I pray she doesn’t have to wrestle with feelings of inadequacy or unimportance as I did.  And when I start to feel like I can’t serve because I’m home with my children, God reminds me that everyday I’m serving Him.  I have a mission field.  It’s my home.