Devoted to WAHMs -Work at Home Moms

Perfect for stay at home moms? Don’t you believe it! If you find a position advertised as “perfect for stay at home moms” it’s a sure bet someone is looking to get something for almost nothing. This is a bone of contention for me. Because we’re stay at homes, does that mean we have unlimited time?  Does it mean we’re just sitting around waiting for someone, anyone, to pay .50 cents per hour for email referrals or $2.00 a pop writing silly SEO content? We have the most important job in the world, we shouldn’t have to settle.

At least those jobs pay though. Sometimes I come across ads for “perfect” jobs that don’t pay anything at all. Is this because Work from home moms don’t have anything better to do than work for free for some cheapskate? Come on people, can’t you even pretend to show us a little respect?

Here’s a case in point, a couple of weeks ago I was trolling the job boards and came across an ad on Craigslist for a job that was, you guessed it, “perfect for moms.” The website was looking for writers. Payment? A dozen home baked cookies and some stickers. This is just wrong on so many levels. Since when do cookies constitute payment? Is this the impression we give? Women who sit around and eat cookies all day?

We’re work at home moms. We can manage a household and a business, what makes anyone think we’re satisfied accepting cookies as payment? Did it ever occur to them that our paying jobs enable us to stay at home with our kids or that we have bills to pay? We’re trusted enough to care for our most precious assets, the future of our country, yet many people are reluctant to pay us what we’re worth. Do they understand it takes time for us to work for you? I’m here to tell you our time is worth a lot more than you think.

The cookie ad has since been removed, but I can’t help wonder what they were thinking. We’re work at home moms. We’re worth more than cookies. To quote my good friend, The Craigslist Curmudgeon, when my landlord (or mortgage company as the case may be) accepts cookies for payment, I’ll take you up on your offer. In the meantime, I’ll take the cash, thanks.