Super-cute cheeks!
13 November 2007

I feel like I keep going over topics that are well-known.  It is well-known that many stay-at-home moms feel isolated.  I’m just trying to warn people — not to stay away, mind you.  Being a stay-at-home mom is a rewarding and important job.  But to warn people so that they are prepared.

So here’s the warning: you feel very isolated and lonely as a stay-at-home mom.  I am part of wonderful playgroup; I have an amazing, supportive husband; and yet I still feel very lonely sometimes.

Do you remember how lonely you were before you finally met “The One”?  Do you remember crying to the night sky, begging not to be alone anymore?  Do you remember how some nights, alone in your bed, you would feel the almost unbearable crush of loneliness?

Well, you get to revisit all that as a stay-at-home mom.

Preschool children are extremely hard work, and you do 85% of that hard work by yourself — all alone — day in and day out.  All by yourself, each day, you constantly tend to the needs of small children.

I feel like I need to add an addendum: I love my children and my husband.  I love them so fiercely that there is not even a word for it.  Just be forewarned, if you want to be a stay-at-home mom, plan for the loneliness.  Join a playgroup; ask the grandparents to take the children occasionally; keep your husband informed of the sometimes overbearing sense of loneliness so he can be there for you.  It will be lonely, so plan for it as best you can.