I’ve spent my twenties working my way up in my career so I’d have all the professional opportunities I could ever want so that I could be financially independent and never have to settle for unequal treatment just because I’m female. But now that my husband and I are ready to start a family, I’ve realized that what I really want right now is to be a housewife. Here’s why:
- I love cleaning. I’ve been a clean freak ever since I was a kid. When I’d go over to friends’ houses, all I’d want to do was reorganize their furniture and all their clothes. Even when I was a rebellious teenager my room was the neatest room in the house. Now that I’m going to be a housewife, I’ll get to go back to my childhood happy place, keeping everything tidy and organized, just how I like it.
- I’m a homebody. I love to travel, but the best part of any trip for me has always been coming home. At the end of the day, I just want to be at my house with my dog and a good book. It’s where I feel most like myself, and, oddly enough, my most productive. I know a lot of people who get claustrophobic when they’ve been at home for awhile, but I never get tired of it.
- I like being alone. I’ve never been that outgoing person in the office who knows the names of everyone’s children and organizes fun group chats. I get along well with all my colleagues, but I get fatigued much more quickly when I’m working around other people. Now I get to look forward to whole days by myself if I want them. And even if I do get lonely, I have plenty of friends who work from home as well who I could visit.
- Cooking is one of my all-time favorite hobbies. The stereotype of the housewife in the kitchen is a tricky one, full of all kinds of sexist connotations. But like it or not, I really love to cook. It was one of the first things that my husband and I connected over, and cooking together is still one of our favorite activities. Go ahead and laugh, but the prospect of making up my own recipes and working on perfecting my baking skills fills me with excitement.
- I love hard work. I’ve always had a ferocious work ethic and got bored easily in my previous jobs. Sitting at a desk just isn’t for me. Whatever you think about housewives, it’s impossible to deny that they work incredibly hard. I’m excited to throw myself into a new challenge. I know it won’t be glamorous or full of intrigue all the time, but it definitely won’t be easy, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
- I want to be there for my kid’s formative years. I never thought I’d be a stay at home mom. I grew up in a single parent household and always assumed I’d be a working parent too. But now that I’ve seen some of my friends become parents, I’ve realized how important it is for me to be with my kids as much as possible when they’re young. My mom didn’t have the luxury of being able to stay at home when I was a kid, but I’m lucky enough to have that privilege, and I’m taking it.
- I like having a routine. Being a housewife might seem monotonous to some, but to me, it’s just right. You get to wake up at the same time every day and organize your activities in a way that makes sense to you. And if it starts to become tedious, you can always change it up. That’s the joy of being a one-woman operation.
- There’s enough variety that I won’t get bored. Being a housewife is far more interesting than what I’ve been doing for work for the past ten years. Instead of sitting at a computer doing the same thing day after day, you get to work on different things every day. And once you have kids, you may as well be running around blindfolded for all the predictability you have.
- I get to be my own boss. I love my current boss, but I won’t pretend that I’m sad to leave my job. There’s a big difference between working for yourself and working for someone else. When I’m a housewife, I’ll get to dictate my own schedule and be motivated by something I care more about than anything else–my family. How cool is it that my job will be to make my life and the lives of the people I love the most as meaningful and loving as they can possibly be?
- My partner and I will be able to support each other. The reason a lot of people are uncomfortable about the concept of the housewife is that it reminds them of the ’50s stereotype of the woman who stayed home while her husband went off to his important job in the city. But my husband and I are and always have been equals. In fact, we had a very serious discussion about which one of us would be the stay at home parent. As far as we’re concerned, we’re working equally as hard. I just happen to be the one working at home.
