Work: What's the "Mom Job" Worth?

ALL parents, not just Mom, do countless unpaid jobs.

Something hit me like a ton of bricks after posting recently about needing to find steady work.

The jobs I currently do are dwarfed by a huge job--a career, really-- that I somehow completely missed.  I chose this career over 16 years ago and currently work a minimum of 71 hours a week, with 24/7 on-call availability, for no pay.  It's by far the most important, rewarding, challenging, and fulfilling job I have had the privilege of doing.  I'm a mom of four school-age kids.

What's it worth financially?  SalaryWizard's "mom job" salary wizard gives options for stay-at-home moms, working moms, and dads.  Given the different jobs I do as a stay-at-home parent in the 60630 area code, if this were a paying gig, I'd apparently pull down over $128,000 a year (see my paycheck below).  That's pretty sweet to contemplate.

It helps greatly to be reminded, in the midst of my work angst, that choosing to be on deck for our families - whether we have outside jobs or not - is real work, as valid a choice as any other, and that for me to forget about or discount the value of the choice Sean and I made long ago to have one of us always home to raise our family would be a major mistake.

PS - Many thanks also to friends who sent helpful work-related links my way - much appreciated and thank you for your kindness!

It's that $88,000 of overtime I love to see.