Six Million Dollar Momma

I discovered this weekend that  Ann Crittendon, author of The Price of Motherhood,  put a price tag on motherhood – a million dollars.

That is the amount of money a stay at home mom (SAHM) will lose after only having one child by forfeiting a salary, stocks, retirement savings, pension and other benefits.

When I grew up there was a TV show called The Bionic Woman and she was the female version of The Six Million Dollar Man.

Since I have six kids, doesn’t that make me a Six Million Dollar Woman?

I was astounded at the cost sacrificed for my career choice, Motherhood, but had I known this 23 years ago when I gave birth to child #1,  I wouldn’t have made the decision any differently.

I don’t stay home for financial reasons.

Although I home school and feel strongly about my children’s education, and some statistics show children of SAHMs do better in school and in testing, I don’t stay home for educational reasons.

I am a SAHM for two reasons. (follow link to previous post)

1. The Bible

Titus 2: 3-5

The aged women… teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.


I cannot reason these verses away. As a young single woman, I felt strongly about obeying the Lord and being a keeper at home when He granted me children. Since the Bible doesn’t change, neither have my convictions.

2. I love my children and want to be with them.

I didn’t read any books about the benefits of being a SAHM.  I don’t need to justify myself or prove my value to others.

I can give my own statistics.

I was there when all six of my children rolled over for the first time, crawled for the first time, sat up for the first time and walked for the first time. I cheered like a maniac, never tiring of watching their accomplishments in life.

I marked their language progress with joy and great amounts of over-exaggerated lip movements as I tried to help them form their words more correctly.

I wore great amounts of baby food, milk and juice while teaching my children how to eat and eventually feed themselves. If I wear food now, it’s slopped there with my own clumsy hands.

I was the one they wanted to tuck them in at night. I was the one who heard their secrets when they finally learned how to tell one.

All the firsts, except the naughty ones they got away with at the time, I WAS THERE.

I. was. there.

Yea, SAHMs may not always get a lot of adult interaction.

Yea, SAHMs may sometimes miss their career or wonder what they could have been had they stayed working.

Yea, SAHMs may sometimes be wiping up puke or washing the same dishes over and over and wonder why they went to college.

Yea, SAHMs may sometimes feel a little awkward about not having any of their “own” money to spend and/or a little guilty about not contributing to the bank account.

Yea, SAHMs may experience the typical frustrations, disappointments, shocks, trials and stresses that may make us doubt our value or our choice.

When I look in my kids’ eyes, the windows to their precious souls, I know these light trials cannot shake me off the path of obedience.

Yes, it WAS a million dollar decision to stay at home with my kids, because you couldn’t have paid me a million dollars to be away from them all day.

I value being a keeper at home because I value my children.

So, as I begin another new week, weak and weary from a trying year, I am thankful to remind myself why I am at home, as a SIX MILLION DOLLAR MOMMA.