A GirlTalk Mother’s Day

Monday morning marks the beginning of the work week for the mass majority of paid employees. Not so for a mom. Monday morning for her simply means a continuation of the work she’s been doing all weekend. In fact, her work-week has no starting time. And neither does it afford her an ending time. For even if she would get a few minutes off for relaxation during the week (which is always iffy), she’s still on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

So, how do you pay a salary to someone who spends this much time on the job? Well, U.S.News & World Report informs us:

According to a new study by Salary.com, a compensation consulting firm based in Needham, Mass., the average stay-at-home mom with two children—if she were to be paid in cash based on current market rates— would command a salary of $131,471 a year.

The company arrived at this figure by surveying stay-at-home moms about all the functions they perform and how much time they typically spend on those jobs every week. Consider all the roles mothers play. First and foremost, mom is the family's chief daycare worker, according to Salary.com. But she's also the teacher, the chauffeur, the housekeeper, the cook, the nurse, the maintenance worker, and, yes, even the chief executive of the household.

Now, I doubt there is any mom out there who would begrudge receiving a $2500 paycheck each Friday. However, this salary still doesn’t cut it! That’s because you can’t measure the worth of a mom’s influence on her family in dollars and cents. It is, as Elisabeth Elliot once said, “more profound than can be measured.”

While there’s no way any of us can repay our moms—whether in the currency of dollars and cents or of sincere gratitude—that shouldn’t keep us from trying.

So that’s what were going to do all week on the girltalk blog. We’re going to allow you, our readers, to thank your moms. We received so many wonderful tributes and I wish that we could post them all. However, if yours was not chosen, please give it to your mother on Mother’s Day. You’ll probably never know how much it will mean to her.

Our hope is that not just the moms who are honored, but every mom who reads the blog this week will feel the love and gratefulness of her family and the pleasure of our Savior!