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| Library of Congress: Family in Provincetown, Massachusetts, 1942. |
In today's busy world, families are away from home more and more. Even stay-at-home Mothers are doing an enormous amount of traveling, doing errands, and going out on a daily basis. There is something missing at home.
There has to be a way to cut back on outside activities and cultivate a home. We need to spend more time on the home arts - cooking, baking, cleaning, hospitality. We need to make Home the Base of our lives. That base must have a strong foundation. We need to spend a lot of time there to keep it sturdy and secure.
I realize older children have jobs or events they attend. I understand they often need transportation. But something has to be changed in order for Mother to occupy the home.
There is a saying, "Keep the home fires burning." Someone had to be at home to keep the place warm. They kept up with the cleaning and baking and laundry. Someone was there on a regular basis and that someone was Mother.
I want to see my children come and go out in the world. I want them to look forward to coming home, finding me there, and telling me all about their adventures. I want to help nourish them and make them comfortable and warm and happy. I need to be here in order for that to happen.
Somehow, some way, in order to have the old fashioned family survive, Mother must occupy the home. To occupy is to reside. It is to be there. It is to keep busy on projects related to the home. Mother is the shining light of the family.
May her smiling presence at home be the greatest gift to the family.
blessings
Mrs. White
From the Archives -
What Many of us Crave - An Ordinary Life at Home.
Finding Genuine Happiness at Home - Peace be Upon This House.
Careful thrift in the Home - Reducing Expenses.
- To find out more about this blog, or Mrs. White, please visit our About page. -
Mrs. White's detailed explanation of keeping a financial journal and budget:
For old time encouragement in living simply on a limited income, order Mrs. White's book:
"An Old Fashioned Budget: Humble Financial Management for the Christian Housewife"
77 pages, paperback.
7 comments:
My husband always says "To be a keeper at home you must be at home to keep it."
Once again you hit the nail on the head!
Thank you for this thought today. Yesterday, my eldest son asked why I liked to stay home and do boring things like cook and clean. He said that he certainly wouldn't want to do it. I replied that it is my privilege to take care of my family.
Every job has boring aspects. My husband worked from home yesterday due to bad weather, and just watching him work made me realize that even people who work outside the home have boring and repetitive parts of their jobs. (His numbers and graphs aren't very exciting!)
Even though he doesn't understand why I do it, I hope that my son appreciates my role as his mother and his family's homemaker. No other job so directly and eternally benefits others.
-Jennifer
Great post! Do you remember a couple of summers ago when gas prices skyrocketed? One of the blessings of the situation was that families couldn't afford to be on the go as much and they stayed home together.
My husband loves having me at home when he comes for lunch and for the evening. He appreciates having laundry done and meals prepared. Sometimes wives underestimate how much that means to husbands. Children tend to take it for granted until they get older and realize it's not the norm in many homes........Denise
Honestly, I could NEVER leave my house (with the exception of an occasional trip to the grocery store) and be PERFECTLY happy! I love my home! None of our children are involved in outside activities, except homeschool coop field trips, and occasionally attending a sporting event. We spend all our time together at home and I LOVE IT!
Mrs. White, I agree with you that we need to be home. The challenge continues, to fing the balance. The solution that we have found is that I am home, without leaving for any reason at least 4 days of the week, lessons, appointments, sports, meetings, coops and anything else you could think of has to fit with in the other three days.
We take advantage of car pools on my stay at home days, then I drive like crazy on my out of the house days. But some how we still manage a sit down meal (a late meal but still a family dinner).
Blessings to your family!
Julie
Such a well worded thought and one that two years ago would have made me squirm. But in the last two years, I have come to LOVE being a "keeper at home" and agree totally!
I would love to be able to stay at home. Funny thing is, my husband would like to either find a job where he can work from home, or have me get a huge raise so he doesn't have to work!! But... I want to stay home. We got married this past June and ever since, I have had such a huge desire to stay at home and raise kids. He has two children that live in a different town with their mother, and are involved in everything right now. I want to have a baby with my husband, and then we want to adopt out of the foster care system some day too. But how do we make it on one income? I know my place is to be at home, I know it with everything in me... but how?
Laura R.
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