Can stay-at-home parents still feel guilty?

January 6, 1:29 PMDC Home Parenting ExaminerLisa Linden Fee

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Absolutely! Stay-at-home parents, often feel extremely guilty for a variety of reasons. Here are just a few:

Not spending enough quality time with my children. You might wonder how this can happen, but this is often a stay-at-home parenting issue. There are so many menial tasks to fill up the day that sometimes you have to remind yourself that you need to spend some time playing or reading with your child.

My house is a mess. You would think that if you are home all day, your house would be neat and tidy. WRONG. Children that are home all day mess up your house all day long. And if you can’t afford a housecleaning service, you can spend a ridiculous amount of hours cleaning your house. Again, the guilt kicks in. Did you become a stay-at-home parent only to have your children watch Noggin so that you can clean the house? It’s not easy to have little helpers when cleaning your house, but it can help them appreciate that there are chores that have to be done.

Increase in TV time. Do stay-at-home kids watch more TV than children in daycare settings? This depends on parent rules and schedules, but it is a possibility. Even though I enforce screen time limits, there are times when I put my children in front of the television so that I can make a phone call where a screaming child in the background is not appropriate or to clean a bathroom or just have a moment of peace.

Parental addiction to email. I have to say that I check my email a ridiculous amount of times during the day and I think I am not the only stay-at-home mom to do this. My children are old enough now to notice, so I have had to cut back. The computer can be a huge time waster, but staying at home can be isolating and the need for adult contact, even through email, is huge.

These are just a few reasons. Just knowing that other parents feel the same way can help relieve some of the guilt and help recognize some of the issues that stay-at-home parents feel!