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Dear stay-at-home moms: you're doing the greatest work
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Stay-at-home moms have it hard. More people need to appreciate that. - photo by Liset Rivet
To the stay-at-home moms,

Coming from a daughter that was raised by a stay-at-home mother, I can't appreciate my mother more for what she did for me. I remember it all: those days she was would pick me up from school, the time she taught me how to write my name, all the delicious dinners she cooked and how she loved me enough to put her life on hold for me. I could never show my mother the right amount of gratitude for raising me into the woman I became.

I know things are hard sometimes. So many people in the world don't appreciate the time and commitment that you put into raising your children. The list of things you do is long and deserves more appreciation than it gets.

You cook, not only for yourself but for your entire family. You clean the house, do the dishes and wipe everything down. You wash all the laundry and go grocery shopping. You're the personal chauffeur for your kids, you buy the necessities for the house, you help the kids with their education and make sure that your husband is as happy as can be.

This doesn't even include when someone in the family gets sick or how you help out with the sports that your children play. This does not include the things you do for yourself.

Being a stay at home mom is not an easy task. Its a 24 hour profession that takes patience, tenderness and time. You cultivate your home, a place where family bonding and love grows.

After all these things you give your attention to, you need to also realize that you deserve some time for yourself. You deserve a man who will give you a foot massage, you deserve that time to go get your hair done at the salon, you deserve the very best after all the work you do. Don't forget to sacrifice for yourself, too.

You are doing the most important work of all, raising the future generation. You may not be getting paid with a salary but no work is more important than motherhood. Take it from a daughter who was raised by a stay-at-home mother. She is in every important memory I have. She was there when I lost my teeth, when I first learned to ride a bike, after my first dance performance, my first heartbreak and every moment in between. She was there for it all.

A mothers role on this earth is unlike any other. They create a special bond with their children that can't be compared. You deserve the happiness that comes with raising a family. You deserve a trophy and to be put on a pedestal by the people who matter most.

And because you don't hear it nearly enough, we appreciate you, mom. Thank you.