When people ask me what I do for a living I tell them I'm a stay-at-home mom. This is followed by "Oh", 99% of the time. It's not a nice "oh" either, it's an "oh so you don't really do anything" kind of "oh". Which could not be further from the truth. Stay-at-home parents work hard, every single day. They don't get Saturday or Sunday off, they are stay at home parents 24/7. I feel sorry for people who look down on stay-at-home moms & dads because they are SO much more than that.
There is nothing shameful about not working outside the home. I consider myself a feminist and I thank those women who fought for our right to equality (though we aren't quite truly there yet) but sometimes I think people forgot they fought so we could work outside the home if we wanted to. Those women wanted us to have the option to work, but it seems almost as if it's turned into "if you don't work outside the home you aren't a feminist/independent/person of worth." It's not like we're sitting on our asses eating Bon-Bons watching Oprah...I mean really who likes Bon-Bons anyway?
So what does this have to do with autism? Everything. Stay-at-home parents of special needs children are NOT just stay-at-home parents. We are advocates, we are researchers, we are doctors, psychologists, nutritionists, pharmacists, and reporters. Those are things we do on a daily basis, along with the dishes, the laundry, the cleaning, & the meal planning. All while putting up with the meltdowns, shut downs, OCD, flare ups, die off, and infractions. Luckily, those go along with the good things, like the laughter, new words, losing symptoms, the healing, and watching the amazing things our kids do.
So the next time someone asks you what you do for a living respond with "everything".
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