The Thankless Job

The other day I was listening to the radio. There was a lady who was talking about how mothers have the most thankless job ever. As I was listening to this lady I found myself totally agreeing with her and going over all of the jobs I do on a day to day basis that I get absolutely NO thanks for. (Dishes, cooking, cleaning, changing diapers, grocery shopping…………and on and on)

I thought about it for a couple of days. Was my job really thankless? If so,…………………why?

I started asking myself if my job was thankless because my kid’s jobs are thankless. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was.

How many little things do my kids do for me that I have kind of come to EXPECT from them? (Kind of like the jobs I do that they “expect” from me)

I spent a couple of weeks making a focused effort to say THANK YOU to my kids for EVERYTHING they do. (Even those little things that “should be done anyways”)

The results were AMAZING!!! All the sudden my kids were thanking me for every little thing. (Even those little things that “should be done anyways”)

I am now told thank you for just about everything. In fact, I had to smile when my kids were eating a meal that they absolutely HATED and yet they all told me how thankful they were for the “wonderful meal” I had made for them. This does not happen all of the time, but the fact that it did happen…………..it made me smile.

I have also learned to see all of the “Thanks” I really do get in my job as a mother. When I change countless diapers for my baby, of course I don’t get a verbal “thank you” for a job well done. But she does give me the BEST smile a mother could ever ask for. She still crawls to me over anyone else. She wants ME to hold her or she makes a big fuss. I consider that her way of saying “thank you mom!!”

How many times do my kids randomly come up to me and give me the world’s best hug? I believe that is their little way of saying “thank you mom!”

So is motherhood REALLY a thankless job? ..........................It all depends on the mother. Truly, what you give is what you get.