Re: Linus/Miss Othmar/salary - amusing adult slant

> I was thinking of the classic storyline of Linus' horror at finding=20
> that Miss Othmar....gets PAID for teaching! (For those who don't=20
> remember, he convinces himself she's giving the money back. :) )=20

I found this thread and I thought it was pretty relevant to this one. That =
is, it's not about teachers, but the commentators did a good job of explain=
ing why little kids don't think that anything directly related to THEM coul=
d possibly be called work. As in: "she gets the joy and privilege of being =
in the same room with ME for hours - how is that work?"

Even as the adult is exhausting herself.

(But, there are also ADULTS who believe - as MM indicated, 30-plus years ag=
o - that enjoyment should be a woman's only payment for a job well done - a=
nd Linus may well have believed that too.)

https://old.reddit.com/r/breakingmom/comments/m81748/moms_dont_do_anything/

ardnaidS: Husband and 5yo were picking up the kitchen after he got home fro=
m work. Dh asks kid if she knows the difference between moms and dads. She =
says, "moms don't do anything all day, and dads work and do stuff."
My heart broke. I'm a sahm, and I know I'm crap at it. I let the kitchen ge=
t messy. But we always have clean clothes, a not totally destroyed house. I=
 read to her every day, play with her, feed her. And she thinks I do nothin=
g.

SoFarFrom-YourWeapon: I'm going through it over here too. My little said so=
mething similar before bedtime to me. I try not to take it to heart. To lit=
tle kids going out and doing things is "exciting". But they dont see all th=
e behind the scenes stuff we do.
All the packed lunches with extra touches to make it fun. All the planning =
put into finding activities they will like. All hours spent making sure the=
y have clothes and paying Bills and setting money away for vacation and col=
lege and putting every waking moment into thinking about them and their fut=
ure...

chrystalight: This is just how little kids brains work. She sees that your =
husband leaves the house for work and other things, so that is very concret=
e to her. You're always with her, so she doesn't view what you're doing as =
anything really different from what she does. Children are also really ego-=
centric, she cannot imagine that you'd possible WANT to do anything besides=
 take care of her all day. She would then also think well of course dad WAN=
TS to be at home with me but he can't because he has to work. So right now =
to her, it seems like he's doing "more" because he has the less desirable p=
osition in her opinion.
My mom was a stay at home mom too and it wasn't until I was older that I ha=
d any appreciation whatsoever about what my mom did being like actual work.=
 Everything she did to make our lives function was just how it was. I didn'=
t even have the capacity to consider that all of her effort wasn't 100% fun=
 and how she would want to spend her time...

LongbowTurncoat: This is when your husband should say =E2=80=9Cactually, mo=
mmy does SO MUCH, even if she doesn=E2=80=99t go to a regular job. She make=
s sure our house is safe, warm and cozy. She cooks us food and keeps us hea=
lthy. She cleans every single thing you see around the house that you never=
 think about, isn=E2=80=99t that crazy! I wouldn=E2=80=99t be able to do my=
 regular job as well if it wasn=E2=80=99t for Mommy working as hard as she =
does!=E2=80=9D

FlakeyGurl: ...I feel you. I went through the same thing. I told my kid she=
 can wash the dishes, do her own laundry, clean the toilet, shower, floors,=
 etc since I don't do anything. For some reason she shut up real quick afte=
r that.

rubbermoonrocks =20
As much as she didn't mean to, she sure said something awfully hurtful.
Just try to keep in mind, the everyday stuff you do--which is a boatload of=
 hard work!--tends to get glossed over as kids are focused on the Fun and E=
xciting and Different things! She has no idea how much you do. It's not tha=
t our kids are mean and ungrateful; they just don't register what it takes =
to keep a household running.

Sockalaunch:  I think this is the same kind of "nothing" that they do at sc=
hool all day. They don't really understand how to explain those types of da=
y to day actions. And if nothing special or outrageous happens it doesn't r=
eally register with them at this age.
If I want to get any information from my 5yos, I have to ask very specific =
questions, what story did you read, what words did you write, who did you p=
lay with in the playground. Otherwise, I can ask "what did you do all day?"=
 and I get the answer "nothing."

13_darkravens  : It's really just jacked up perception at young ages. I was=
 a stay-at-home-dad  for almost two years. Remodeled 75% of the house, did =
stuff with the kids, laundry, meals, shopping, cleaning, yard work, etc. My=
 (at the time) 6 year old does a paper at school about getting to know his =
family- mommy goes to work and works really hard. Daddy doesn't do anything=
. It kills you...but they don't mean to be harsh.

Takingthingssloow: ... lots of small kids don=E2=80=99t see household chore=
s as work cause they=E2=80=99re children, just something that gets done by =
parents. So when they hear dads at work, and mums at home. Their little bra=
ins usually go, so dad works and mum just stays home.
And a lot of kids also say their parents don=E2=80=99t work, but they actua=
lly very much do, and is the reason they drop them off at my daycare centre=
. I have a kid who=E2=80=99s father, who comes in his military uniform, she=
 doesn=E2=80=99t actually know what her dad does, and therefore doesn=E2=80=
=99t do anything. Was an interesting parent career day with her dad.

Maximum_Improvement  : And my daughter thinks all mommies work outside the =
home and asks everyone =E2=80=9Cwhat is your job?=E2=80=9D And gets confuse=
d when someone doesn=E2=80=99t have one. Kids are just very black and white=
.


Lenona.