How much should you earn as a stay-at-home parent? That has been investigated! € 72,297.78 per year would be an adjusted salary for all daily activities. For example, a study about staying at home for the children, which was carried out by Viking. 700 Dutch and Flemish parents who stay at home have participated in this research.
The estimate of the number of hours that parents work when they stay at home for the children is on average about 91 hours per week. Holy shit! That's hard work!
Of course, the value of love doesn't translate into a paycheck. And of course the formally working parent also works hard. But in this day and age it is well worth taking a look at all those parents who stay at home and the work they do.
In this study, the stay-at-home parent was compared with running a start-up business. As a starter, you are busy with all common tasks yourself. You have no holidays, you cannot take sick leave and there is no thirteenth month or a nice Christmas package. None of that. Loads of love do you put into your work and what do you get in return? Snot on your clothes and soggy hands around your neck 😉 .
As multitasking project manager pur sang, the parents who stay at home with their children organize everything around the children. They work irregular hours, regularly cook for a small army (of boyfriends and girlfriends), often organize small events until they feel like it, and a hundred and one things more. The hours worked unregistered at home are of added value, but remain unpaid.
Everyone needs appreciation, including the stay-at-home parent who takes care of the children. It's not always the best of luck, it's hard work for (often) few compliments. I already notice in myself that for the work I do at home, I also like to receive a pat on the back. How come no one can see I mopped the floor this morning? A heathen job that is then simply dabbled in dirty shoes again.
The care and upbringing of children is a continuous task. You can't turn it on and off, it's always there and you can be happy when the evenings are still long and you can sleep well through the nights 😉 . That's what makes staying at home so hard. It's an endless process. By the time we actually start giving a kitchen sink subsidy here in the Netherlands, as they do in Germany, there will undoubtedly be more parents thinking about 'staying at home'.
What would you do? If it pays off and you no longer have to work for the money, would you rather stay at home with your children?
