Stay-at-home mom position without breaks

Perhaps you've taken part in a conversation that goes something like this:

"And … where do you work?"

"Oh, I'm just a housewife, a stay-at-home mom."

"Must be nice not having to work outside the home."

"Well, I suppose that depends on how you look at it. It's nice to be able to take care of my family — even if I don't get paid for it."

And that is about where the conversation ends, or where you might want to change the subject in a hurry.

On this Mother's Day, it's good to reflect for a moment or two on the myriad jobs mothers perform every single day in households all across New Mexico and around the world.

They include the following occupations.

• Chauffeur. They take their children from one event to another, usually on a deadline. School, home, soccer practice, dance lessons, perhaps a recital later in the day. You name it, Mom is there.
• Nurse. Your children scrape themselves. Tears well up. What's the first word out of their mouths? "Mommy!" She rushes to tend to their injury, to give them a kiss and a hug and tell them they'll be all right. You know what? She's usually correct.
• Crisis counselor. The kids come home from school and tell Mom about the tough test they took in class, or the other kids who teased them. The children's feelings are hurt. Mom is there to lift their spirits and tell them tomorrow will be a better day. She's usually right about that, too.
• Short-order cook. The children have different appetites and tastes. Moms usually have two choices: Fix one meal for all the kids or seek to please their varying tastes. That's her call, exclusively.
• Multi-tasker. Mothers by definition often have to perform all of these duties — and usually many more — all at the same time. Does anyone really believe doing any of these duties by themselves is easy, let alone having to do them simultaneously?

It's tough being a mother in the United States. The Save the Children Foundation recently released a report that said the U.S. ranks as the 30th-best country in the world to be a mother. Last year, the U.S. ranked 25th.

The good news, of course, is that the rise of political correctness has educated those who otherwise might consign stay-at-home motherhood to some lesser-level occupation. In fact, it can be argued that it's the most important job on the planet, or perhaps in all of human history.

Keep this mind as you celebrate your mother. Today is her day. Indeed, every day should be hers as well.

— Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the Clovis Media Inc. editorial board, which includes Publisher Ray Sullivan and Editor David Stevens.