I think that’s a legitimate question once the children are in school.

CHORUS:
Where is my Doris Day?
Where is my prairie song?
Where is my happy ending?
Where have all the homemakers gone?

Why don’t you relax this evening
Kick back and watch the TV
And I’ll fix a little something to eat
Oh I know your back hurts from working on the tractor
How do you take your coffee my sweet
I will raise the children if you pay all the bills

*cleaning (everything!)
*cooking (planning, preparing, clean-up)
*shopping (food, clothing, gifts)
*care taking (general and nursing)
*laundry (wash, dry, fold, put-away)
*accounting (pay bills, track spenditures etc.)

And, this is only a short list! In addition to these things many stay-at-home mothers or housewives run on-line or part-time businesses out of their home to contribute to their families income.

I can go with you here if you’re talking part time. (May the Lord bless companies who provide part time work, preferably with some benefits!) And just because kids are in school doesn’t mean they don’t still take a lot of time.

But even now that I’m an old woman and all my kids are grown up, I still don’t work full time. If a woman is to do all or most of the things in Sadie’s list, that takes time. (I do understand that my financial situation is not typical; we get paid the same amount whether I do any work or not!)

There is a lot I could say on this topic of balancing life, kids, husband and house but the specifics of what worked for me may or may not work for someone else. However, I’d give women some general advice:

1. Marry a good man. One who isn’t a jerk, and one who will listen to you when you talk. That way you’ll be able to work through the difficulties of managing everything together.
2. Figure out how to live economically and not have a bad attitude about it. Don’t let money have control over you and your family. Time is worth so much more than money.
3. Try to live close to where your husband works if at all possible. Time is worth so much more than money.
4. Cultivate female friends who live nearby. Then help each other out in times of need. Women friends can help you when you need someone to talk to, need to borrow something, need someone to pick your kids up from school because you have your other kid at the hospital.

Speaking with not much experience, I’d say it’s about a thirty-five-hour-a week job to actually run a home, from the woman’s point of view. But the woman really doesn’t “run” everything in a home. Traditionally, the man takes care of house and car maintenance, some yard work, and the more exciting parts of finances such as taxes - to name just a few.

But it’s hard to speak of raising children in a certain number of hours per week.