Uber Mom

Art by my Ashley

Back when I was growing up, Uber meant cool.  Now it means a ride anywhere you want to go, anytime you want it.   It means having someone there to take you to a place, from a place, back and forth to multiple places with little to no advance notice. Someone driving you no matter the weather, no matter the day, no matter what.   

The Uber driver description above is not so different from what I am. Uber Mom.  Do I wish Uber Mom meant cool mom?  Of course, but no, it means I am willing and able to drive my kids wherever they need to be whenever they need to be there.  And when I physically just can’t do it, I call on my Uber Mom friends in my Uber mom carpool groups because I can count on them just like they can count on me.

For curiosity’s sake, do you know the average annual salary of an Uber Driver.  Care to take a guess?  I know Uber drivers hours fluctuate versus part-time and full-time drivers, so I googled the average salary range of an average Uber Driver.  What do you think?

The average salary range of a median Uber driver in 2017…. (drumroll please),  between $40,000 and $90,000.

And for comparison’s sake, the average salary for a full-time personal chauffeur?  $38,551.

So, let’s just say a driving professional can make about $40,000 a year and above.  Add that to the average/median annual salary of  other jobs we moms are performing every single day of the year:

Nurse: $67,000

Teacher: $54,890

Event Planner: $46,840

Therapist: $53,520

Chef: $75,596

Librarian: $61,000

Personal Assistant: $33,000

Housekeeper: $24,832

Laundress: $63,114

Cheerleader: $15,000

Tutor: $47,916

Activity Director: $33,600

Beginning singer/performer: $39,899

Hairstylist: $23,660

And, drumroll again…. Total Combined Salary: $679,867

Well:

“According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median wage for workers in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2016 was $849 per week or $44,148 per year for a 40-hour work week.”

So, this means us, we Moms, if paid would be making $635,719 more a year than the average person in our country.  And the average person is only working 40 hours a week.  You are working 168 hours a week (24/7) as a mom is always on duty.  So I guess really if we counted all our hours our “salary” would increase tenfold! Twenty fold!  Our “salary” would EASILY exceed a million dollars a year if everything we did was truly accounted for.   And this is without vacation days, any insurance or any bonuses for a job well done!

My point of all these numbers?  To remind us to value ourselves.  Value the fourteen jobs we do in just one day.  Value the hundreds of things we do every day, millions of things we do every year.  Value ourselves because we truly cannot put an accurate salary number on motherhood, just your Uberness alone would count for over forty grand, and that’s on the very low end!  If we added together just the hours we drive our kids per year I bet we’d be way above the hours of the average uber driver and personal chauffeur combined!  

So when you find yourself wondering what you are doing with your degree/degrees, when you ask yourself what you are doing with your brain, when you ask if there is something more for you out there-PLEASE STOP.  Stop and remind yourself that you are doing over fourteen jobs at once (and probably even more than that as I’m sure each of you could add something to my list above!) and stop and remind yourself how very, very, very blessed you are to be doing these jobs for little people whom you love with all your heart and soul.

The bottom line,

YOU ARE AMAZING.  EVERYTHING YOU DO MATTERS!  YOU ARE JUGGLING TEN MILLION THINGS SOMETIMES WITHOUT ANY GRATITUDE OR RECOGNITION!  

Well, we recognize you.  All us other moms out there, we do.  No matter what stage of motherhood we are in, we each know how much we all do and we also know that not one of us would trade it for anything in the entire world!

We cook, we clean, we drive, we nurse, we read to our kids, we help with homework, we plan and juggle a gazillion activities.  We cheer at every game, meet, concert, recital, event.  We braid hair, we clean up throw up, we do laundry, we deal with fecal matter, we hold children through their tears, we comfort them in their fears and we love them absolutely unconditionally.   We wipe up blood.  Spend hours at doctors, dentists and sadly sometimes hospitals.  We plan birthday parties, holidays, create the perfect gift, cook the perfect meal, bring magic to the household.  We break up fights, we keep secrets, we teach trust.  We teach prayer and faith and goodness.  We bring love.  We build confidence, character, charisma.  

In addition we know when to let go.  Know when to sit on our hands and make our child do something on their own.  We know when to push.  We know when to punish.  We know that sometimes we have no idea what to do.  We know sometimes we break down.  Sometimes we yell.  We know sometimes we can’t do anything but walk away and then cry in our pillow because it is just so hard sometimes to be a mom and do the right thing.  We know sometimes all we want to do is give in because it’s easier, but we know we can’t.  We sometimes just want to spoil our kids rotten but are so glad we don’t when we watch the tantrums of the children whose parents do.

We have no manual or guidelines.  No single reference book to tell us what to do in all the situations where we need help and just have to trust ourselves and our gut.  We have no bosses, no experts to turn to.  None of us have ever done this before (in this lifetime) and we can only do the best we can.

I believe we have the absolute hardest and absolute most wonderful job in the world.  We are the most selfless people there are.  We give almost all of ourselves to others for at least eighteen years (each child!) and even after that we truly never let go.

We are the believers in dreams, the growers of hearts and souls, the creators of little men and women who will grow up to do great things because we are here for them every day and because we love them. And no, absolutely we cannot put a salary on motherhood because the rewards of smiles and hugs and crayon drawings could never compete with any bonus no matter how high.  And the joy that comes with being a mom and watching our children learn and grow and love and succeed could never even compete with a $679,000 salary NOT EVEN CLOSE.  And we could not write an accurate, detailed  job description for a mom because everyday is different.  Every child is different.  

But despite not having a job description or a salary, I want us all to always remember how much we are worth.  Always remember how much we matter.  Because we do.  Every single day.  What job could be better than growing and guiding human beings that we love more than anything we can imagine?   What could possibly be more important?  NOTHING.  Nothing in the world.  Not fame, not fortune, not the highest salary or title on the top of Forbes List.   I feel the absolute richest people in the world are those that are lucky enough to be moms. 

Moms are Uber.  And by that I mean really, really, really cool-when we are driving and all hours in between.  

Keep up the incredible work!

With much love,

Kristy

 

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