Sitting Around All Day

"So what do you do all day?"

"Don't you get bored just sitting around all day?"

"I could never just sit at home and do nothing."

These are just a few things I've heard or been asked since I quit my job and started staying home with Eli a year and a half ago.

And honestly, at first these questions didn't bother me too much. I get it, staying home isn't for everyone. Some moms choose to work, some dads choose to stay home, some moms work and want to be home - everybody has a different situation and does what works for them in that moment. Why judge what another person chooses or needs to do?

However, I reached a point where the questions started to get on my nerves. I wasn't necessarily offended by the questions or sometimes clear disapproval of my choice to stay home but it started to get on my nerves that people acted like I sat around all day or I did nothing.

There are times when I want to read off a laundry list of what exactly I do to the person but it's not worth it -  because realistically I actually DO sit around a lot of the day.


Yes there are days where household chores and errands take a backseat because I'm too busy "sitting around"  I'm sitting on the floor playing trains, or I'm sitting in my comfortable blue chair reading a book. There are other times where I'm sitting down at the table eating lunch or even sitting down to watch TV.

Yup, I chose to step away from my job outside the home to just sit around.

However, all those times that I'm just sitting during the day I'm never alone - they are with my toddler, my son, Eli. The person that I choose to stay at home with every single day. The person who plays trains with me, or lets me read a book to him, or sits on my lap while we watch a cartoon. We sit and eat lunch together and sometimes we sit together in the car while waiting in line at the bank.

I'm not saying any of these things to create some sort of argument about working vs. staying at home. Each has pros and cons and each has its own battles that are neither here nor there. But what I am saying is that it bothers me that our society has put some sort of negative connotation on "sitting at home".

We have created a world where we feel like we need to constantly be busy or doing something or going, going, going to prove something, maybe our worth? I'm not sure what we are trying to prove, but it seems that we are chasing a whole lot of nothing all in an effort to make sure we stay busy.

Believe me there are days where I am plenty busy - and I do enjoy my side job that allows me to pursue my own goals.  But to me, the fact that I get to "sit at home" all day is a blessing to me and there is nothing negative about it.

I'm past the point where I feel like I need to list off all that I actually do to someone who thinks that I don't do anything. I once wanted to explain how I actually do work with my business or how we sacrifice A LOT so that I can stay home or how this is what I prayed for and I feel thankful and blessed everyday that I get to do what I always wanted to do. 

But I've quit trying to explain it. It really doesn't matter. I'm ok with other people thinking I just sit at home all day, because right now I know that's where I'm called and frankly it's what I want to be doing.

I know there will come a day when the trains will be in the attic collecting dust and my lap will become too small for my children to sit on and the books we once sat and read will be way below their level. So for now I will enjoy all this sitting around we do. I know that all the busyness and on the go and the chasing endless to do lists will come later. But for now I'll "sit around" for a bit and enjoy these short years.