I just went to mom.salary.com, entered in how many hours a week I spend doing various jobs like teacher, cook, CEO, nurse, housekeeper, driver, facilities manager, admin, etc., then I put in my zip code, and they tell me all my work as a SAHM is equivalent to about $134k/year. I can even print a paycheck just for fun. So since my services are so valuable, I’d like to outsource some of them and get a personal assistant. Just kidding.
i would volunteer, but i can barely keep myself organized 😉
seriously though, i’m not trying to take away from the importance of SAHMs or the scads of things they don’t get recognized for, but even in the paid world, you don’t necessarily get compensation for all the things that you do. for example, i do a lot of teaching and mentoring and so-called “other duties as assigned” that i don’t necessarily get paid for. it would be nice if–in all worlds–one could compartmentalize each task and then be appropriately compensated for each. instead, they give you what is supposed to be a “catch-all” job title and pay you for that title, instead of individually for all the jobs you do. for some, the catch-all title is public health adviser; for others it’s mom. but they both include some thankless tasks 😉