throwback thought ~ i want to be the breadwinner

At one point in my life, I wanted to be the only full-time working parent and my husband would play a role similar to Michael Keaton in Mr. Mom. What was I thinking?

Ask my mother and she will tell you that I was independent even before I knew how to define the word.  The idea of working was ingrained in my head at a young age and I remember so confidently saying that I wanted to be a working mom that would have a husband who stays home to raise the kids.  The idea of working was never an option for me - it was always a necessity and to this day, even though there are moments I wish I had more time with my son, I can confidently say that I would choose to work if given the option not to.  However, the responsibilities of being the only working parent are very different and luckily I am not on that journey alone.

As you've heard me say before - working mom, stay at home mom - they're equally as challenging.  There's no "this is better than that" or "I work harder than you because of x,y,z" - being a parent is tough, but in my mind if one of them had to take the cake...it would be the ONLY working parent in the family.  Obviously this expands beyond mothers, but now that I have my own child, I appreciate any parent (mom or dad) that is the sole provider for their family because it's a sacrifice that isn't always recognized.  I'm stressed out as it is being a contributor to our household income - I can't image being the only provider.  While some of us take that responsibility on ourselves, others don't have the choice and I applaud those parents who have the strength to overcome those unique sets of challenges that come along with being the primary provider of the family.

While there was a time where I thought I would marry a stay at home dad, I did myself one better than that - I have a fantastic husband that not only financially supports us, but plays a role close enough to a stay at home dad.  Not only has he assumed majority of the responsibility in daycare pick-up/drop-off, but he also does all of the weekday cooking, cleaning and errand running.  And it's also worth mentioning that he always has 2 wine glasses readily available when I walk in the door from work.  So even though I thought there would be some luxury of being the only working parent, I feel like it's a better experience when you have a partner that can understand all of the challenges that you might be facing and help alleviate some of the extra pressure that comes with being the only provider.

Throwback Thought is a new series exploring random thoughts that I once thought to be true.