It's time to take off your cape, throw down your briefcase, and throw that burp cloth back over your shoulder.
why? Because the answer is simple...
Because - your children need you.
And dammit, it's also time to hold your head high and stare down anyone who dares to question your decision -or your right - to do this.
It's time to take back your role as parent, and your obligations and duties to raise happy and healthy children - in person - and not through a daily report from a local daycare, a teacher, or a personal nanny.
It's time to forget the luxuries and cherish only the necessities of life that make you truly happy - your kids.
And in return, they will make you rich beyond your wildest imaginings.
It's no longer good enough to let strangers raise your children - over a job, a new car, a new house, a new vacation or an old and seriously faulty attitude that somehow the role of homemaker, of parent in situ, is menial and unworthy...
...when, in fact, nothing could be further from the truth.
Your children need you to be home when they walk through the door, to have someone to help them with their homework, to kiss their scraped knees, to wipe their tears, to cradle them until they fall asleep, to read them a story, to take care of their first fever, their first asthma attack, and their first hurt feeling.
They need you to be there to scare the monsters from under the bed, to listen to their fears, to help solve their troubles, to walk them to school, to share with them a home cooked meal, to push them on a swing, to teach them how to pray, and to be kind, and respectful, and generous, and loving human beings.
Your children need you to teach them how to fold a towel, wash a dish, run a vacuum, mow a lawn, bait a hook, hook a basketball, catch a ball, shovel a sidewalk, drive a car, and help a neighbor. Your children need you to show them a budding flower, a bee collecting pollen, a rainbow, a footprint, and a shooting star.
And they also need your undivided attention.
And believe me when I tell you - you need to be there to witness their first tooth, their first laugh, their first crawl, their first walk, their first words, their first potty session, their first day of school, their first successful attempt at riding a two wheeler, their first puppy love, their first date, their first broken heart, their first award, their first school play, their first shave, their first mascara, their first drivers permit, their first prom, their first, their first, their first....
~ they're first.
(but we can still forget about the pointy white cotton platex bras and girdles girls...they were never good for anybody...)
for more thoughts on this subject - check out the Queen of Peachy Amuckness and the infamous, Mr. Stay-at-home Scalzihead, and the hippest hippy in j-land - Amy with the cereal mess on the floor.
anyone else got a rant on this subject? - let me know - and thy shall be linked verily.
hmmm. thinking.... do you know that i know that you don't know that they don't know that i don't know that you know this? 
