On their own, they are not jobs I ever thought I would be qualified for: psychologist, chef, chauffeur, cleaner, care-giver and cold war negotiator. But I find myself doing all of those things as well as teaching manners, breaking up fights, organising parties, mopping up blood, repairing fairy wings and playing wicket keeper.
Motherhood is the hardest, most emotional, demanding and rewarding full-time job there is. And I wouldn’t swap it for the world.
And ladies, when we kick back and relax on Mother’s Day in our new pink chenille dressing gowns and enjoy slightly cold toast, we can be comfortable in the knowledge that all our hard work is actually worth a fortune.
A group of researchers calculated the comparative professional rates for what mothers do every single day for free. They found a stay-at-home mum is worth about $163,000 and a working mum does about $100,000 worth of tasks on top of her paying job.
Both roles have risen in value in the last few years as more mums do less outsourcing as the global recession bites.
But the figures are about as useful to us as a busted dishwasher. Pay or no pay, we keep doing what we do because we have to and we love to. (Ok, maybe the ironing is more need than want.) It’s multi-tasking at its best.
And we salute our own wonderful mums who showed us the way.