HOME Parenting

I do not like being called “Stay-at-Home Mom,” nor do I appreciate being identified as “Homemaker,” or “Full-time Parent.”

I’m guessing you’ve just reacted one of two ways:

1) “What’s the matter girlfriend? What’s in a name anyway? The role is what you make it.”

OR

2) “You go sister, I agree with you one hundred percent, let’s get rid of those ‘inaccurate-titles-that-do-nothing-for-us’ for good!"

Well, in my book “Staying Home and Staying You: A Mom’s Guide,” I dedicate an entire chapter to offering a new concept I hope will someday replace the Stay-at-Home Mom/ Dad identification for good! It’s called H.O.M.E. Parenting.

H.O.M.E. Parenting stands for Hands On Meaningfully Engaged Parenting and the person (mom or dad) partaking in this style of parenting is called a H.O.M.E. Parent. I used the word HOME to create the acronym because this is where this style of parenting is based. So, Stay-at-Home Moms definitely qualify as H.O.M.E. Parents, well maybe not ALL Stay-at-Home Moms, because there is one very important difference that separates the two: A H.O.M.E. Parent’s focus is parenting not homemaking. In fact, here are some more basic H.O.M.E. Parenting criteria:

 The primary role of a H.O.M.E Parent is parenting, not just in a care-giving sense, but in a way that nurtures self-esteem, fosters independence and encourages children to become caring, positive contributing members of society.

 H.O.M.E. Parents are busy encouraging, socializing, stimulating and teaching their children. They are exposing their kids to a variety of activities both in and outside of the home to foster optimal physical, social and emotional development.

 H.O.M.E. Parents to do not do ALL of the housework (unless they want to). Home management is recognized as the responsibility of ALL family members.

 H.O.M.E. Parents are aware of who they are as individuals. They make time to maintain important adult friendships and participate in activities that feed their personal identity.

 And finally, H.O.M.E. Parents have a goal to make a personal contribution to society, either paid or unpaid. This contribution takes the form of volunteering for a cause if it’s unpaid, or resuming a paid job/ career if it’s paid.

So, in other words a H.O.M.E. Parent is a really awesome Stay-at-Home Mom or Dad, who takes their parenting role seriously and honours their personal identity outside of their family role!